Farmers oppose takeover of land belonging to agricultural research centre near Aruppukottai
In a statement, Virudhunagar district functionaries of Cauvery Vaigai Kiruthumal Gundar Farmers' Federation, said the State Government should not weaken agricultural research in the name of industrial development.
The Tamil Nadu Government in its first-ever budget on agriculture in 2021 had announced that 11.75 lakh ha of arid land should be brought into farming activities in the next 10 years as part of efforts to increase farming coverage.
In 2024-25, the Government planned to retrieve arid land in 2,482 villages under Kalaignar All Villages Integrated Agriculture Development programme.
'However, contradicting such a programme with a long-term vision, 129 acres of invaluable land of the research centre in Kovilankulam has been proposed to be taken up for establishing industrial estate,' federation's Virudhunagar district president R. Rampandian and secretary Gopalakrishnan, said.
The land in the research centre was being used for development of rain-fed crops like millets, pulses, cotton, horticultural crops and for rain-fed farming methodologies. The centre was supplying around 50 tonnnes of certified seeds to the region covering the 10 southern districts. Besides, the centre was biodiversity home for native breeds of animals, deer, peacocks and several varieties of trees.
The farmers wondered why the Government was after this parcel of land for industrial development while 30 lakh hectares of arid land were available in the State. With climatic changes forcing uncertainty on the farmers, the State Government should not reduce but strengthen its support for farmers of rain-fed regions. 'We are in a state of compulsion of protecting the existing agricultural research and also expanding it,'
The State Government should give up its proposal which will break the faith of farmers and agricultural scientists, the statement said.
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