The livelihoods of farmers in rural areas of Mayiladuthurai district have undergone a significant transformation with the intervention of the Agriculture Engineering Department to construct farm ponds free of cost under the Kalaignarin All Village Integrated Agriculture Development Programme (KAVIADP).
The creation of ponds abutting farmlands under the State government’s KAVIADP scheme has been gathering pace in Mayiladuthurai district. One of the main objectives of the scheme is to bring fallow lands under cultivation and increase the cultivable area by creating new water sources such as farm ponds, which in turn increase agriculture productivity and improve the economic status of farmers.
The Agriculture Engineering Department has been constructing farm ponds in spots identified within the land holding of farmers to improve water harvesting. A total of 17 farm ponds have been created since 2021, with 100% subsidy in the district. For the financial year 2023-24, nearly 10 spots have been identified to create farm ponds, says R. Sridhar, Assistant Executive Engineer, Department of Agriculture Engineering, Mayiladuthurai.
Farm ponds play a significant role in the income diversification of farmers, says S. Sathiyanathan, a native of Memathur near Sembanarkoil. He is one of the farmers benefitted from the KAVIADP scheme under which a farm pond has been constructed on his land earlier this year.
Since then, he has been involved in pisciculture in the farm pond. “I have been rearing nearly 800 fish fingerlings of three varieties, such as Catla, Rohu, and Mrigal. Fish rearing is likely to fetch an income of around ₹ 1 lakh by the end of the eight-month rearing period. The farm pond also helps to recharge the groundwater by effectively storing the rainwater,” he says.
Construction of these ponds on the farmlands plays a significant role in rainwater harvesting and aquifer recharge. The farm ponds are created in isolation in the fields where providing inlet and outlet channels is a challenge. After studying the slope of the terrain, the ponds have been constructed at the spots where the runoff water gets accumulated during rain, noted Mr. Sridhar.
The sand excavated after digging the ponds is used for strengthening the bunds. Another farmer who benefitted from the scheme said he has planned to cultivate vegetables, fodder, banana, and coconut on the bunds of the pond. Collector A.P. Mahabharathi recently visited the farm ponds constructed under the scheme in a few villages near Sembanarkoil and urged the officials and farmers to explore the scope for taking up integrated farming in the district.
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