“Saali nellin sirai koL veli; aayiram viLaiyuttu aaga; kaaviri purakkum naadu kizhavoney” says Sangam poem Porunaraattruppadai. The lines discuss a high yield variety of rice called Sali that grew in the areas fed by Cauvery. This record from more than 2,000 years ago makes us think if this...
My dear farming friends: In my last week's interaction, I had talked about a pond to store rainwater in a village in Pudukottai. After sharing the article in my network, I had gone to attend a farmers meeting in Kancheepuram district. Some farmers who had read the article asked me to help me...
Today, Cauvery water has flooded almost all villages in the delta and fields are nothing but standing water patches. Not too long ago, the state was in the grip of a drought. In recent times, Tamil Nadu has been characterised by erratic and inconsistent monsoons, especially during the last six...
In recent years, in an overzealous pursuit of organic farming with concern for protecting the environment, use of fertilizers and agricultural chemicals has been discouraged, and it is advocated to supply all the plant nutrients through organic manure only. Total organic farming may be a...
Alarm bells must ring about the food security situation in Tamil Nadu as the acreage of paddy cultivation has been steadily and surely coming down, with the decline being one third compared to 1980. The only saving grace is that the yield of paddy per acre has increased sharply which explains...
Poverty forced Muthuraj to drop out of school and work for a living. At 24, he is a young entrepreneur, running a tractor service business in Dharmapuri district. Muthuraj belongs to Neruppur, in the Pennagaram zone of Dharmapuri district. His father Chinnamuthu and mother Valarmathi worked in...
For former DMK president and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, Kanyakumari presented a political problem that gave him an opportunity to indulge in his trademark alliterative Tamil. “Tirunelveli is our border and Kumari is trouble [Nellai engalakku ellai, kumari engalukku thollai],” he said. The...
