Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department

Agriculture continues to be the most predominant sector of this district economy, as 70 percent of the population is engaged in Agriculture and allied activities for their livelihood. Centrally located in Tamil Nadu the Thiruchirappalli District has a Geographical area of 4,40,383 Hectares. Of which the net area cropped is 1,41,282 Hectares. Out of which about 98739 Ha are irrigated and about 66652 Ha are rainfed. The River Cauvery irrigates about 51,000 Ha. in Trichy, Lalgudi and Musiri Divisions.

OBJECTIVE

To function as an advisory to the farmers in their day to day agricultural activities, supply of quality seeds, monitoring and making available quality chemical fertilizers, bio fertilizers, bio pesticides besides making available the latest technologies from research institutions with a view to increase the food production and raw material production to cater to the growing needs of the food for the population and raw materials for the industries.

Aim:

1. To sustain the Agricultural cropping Area.
2. To increase the Production and Productivity
3. Double the production and triple the income of the farming community.

The department policy and objectives have been to ensure stability in agricultural production and to increase the agricultural production in a sustainable manner to meet the food requirement of growing population and also to meet the raw material needs of agro based industries, thereby providing employment opportunities to the rural population.

The Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department has taken up the challenge to achieve higher growth rate in agriculture by implementing several development schemes and propagating of relevant technologies to step up the production. National Agriculture Development Programme, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana , Collective Farming Seed Village Scheme , National Mission On Oilseeds and Oilpalm , National Food Security Mission , Tamil Nadu Cotton Cultivation Mission, National Mission On Sustainable Agriculture, Soil Health Card Mission, Soil health improvement through Bio-fertiliser including Green Manuring, adoption of Integrated Nutrient Management (INM) and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) technologies are given priority through various programmes, besides crop diversification to fetch better return and value addition to agricultural produce which inturn improve the economic status of the farming community.

AREA:

Thiruchirappalli District has a Geographical area of 4,40,383 hectares of which the net area cropped is 1,41,282 hectares. On an average 98739 Ha. are cultivated under irrigated conditions and about 66652 Ha. are cultivated under rainfed conditions. The River Cauvery irrigates about 51,000 Ha. in Trichy, Lalgudi and Musiri Divisions.

FOREST AND HILLS:

One twelth of the area of this district is covered by revenue forest and hills. The important hills in this district is Pachamalai near Thuraiyur.

SOIL:

The red loamy soil is predominantly found here. Manapparai and part of Thuraiyur have red loam soil. The district has also sandy alluvial soil in other parts of the district.

CLIMATE AND RAINFALL:

Tamilnadu is divided into major seven major Agro climatic zone. Tiruchirappalli district comes under Cauvery Delta Zone (CDZ). The general climate is tropical and the temperature ranges from Maximum of 380 c and Minimum of 240c

The normal rainfall received by the district is 818 mm. The district receives major share of its rainfall from North East monsoon.

CROPPING PATTERN:

Paddy, Millets, Pulses, Banana, Sugarcane, Cotton are the major crops cultivated in the District. Normally 60600 hectares of paddy, 44700 hectares of millets, 14500 hectares of pulses,19000 hectares of Cotton, 3800 hectares of sugarcane, 22200 hectares of oilseeds, 9167 hectares of banana,402 hectares of Turmeric,1995 chillies, 6000 hectares of Tapioca,3410 hectares of onion,455 hectares of vegetables, 800 hectares of flowers and 2080 hectares of mango are cultivated in the district.

IMPORTANT RIVERS / CANALS

IRRIGATION SOURCE

The Principal purpose of irrigation is to increase agricultural productions by cropping more areas. As for as the irrigation is concerned in this district, the sources are the canals from the river Cauvery, ordinary wells, tanks and tube wells.
The river Cauvery and its branch Coleroon are the most important rivers in the District. The other notable rivers are Nandhiyar, Ponnaniyar. The important canals are Pullambadi canal, Pudukkottai canal, KattalaiVaikkal, Uyyakondan, Iyyanvaikkaland PeruvalaiVaikkal.

1. The Cauvery and ColeroonRiver :
   Cauvery, one of the major rivers of South India and Tamil Nadu, flows towards east. In Tiruchirappalli district, the river splits into two branches, the northern branch being called the Coleroon (Kollidam) and the southern branch is called river Cauvery. The total length of the river in this district is about 125 Kms, and the area of river basin extends about 17,200 hectares of land. Ponnaniar, Uppamodai and Siddhayalli reservoir are mainly used for irrigation purpose.
2. Koraiyar River:
   Koraiyar River rises from KaruppurReddiyarpatti hill R.F at an elevation of about 500m. The river carries water from catchment areas of Puttanattam, Viralimalai, Malaikudippatti, Tennalur, Illupur, Kalluppatti, Arur, Kulakkattaigudi, Keeranur and Thuvarankurichi. The catchment area of river is 632 sq.km and the length is 75 km. The entire catchment of the river is covered by a large number of tanks.
3. Ariyar River :
   Ariyar River rises in Manapparai area from PallivelliMukku at an elevation of about 700m. The river carries water from Kadavur and Semmalai reserve forests, Vairampattai, Kulattur and Manapparai areas. The catchment area of the river is about 832 Sq.km.
4. Upper Anicut :
   A dam known as upper Anicut was constructed in 1836 at a place where the Cauvery branches off into two at the west end of Srirangam, to regulate the flow of water in the Cauvery and Coleroon rivers. In its original form, the upper Anicut consisted of a simple masonary dam of 230 meters in length divided into three parts. Below the Grand Anicut, the Cauvery further splits into two, one being called the Cauvery and the other, the Vennar River. These channels are utilised as the main canals for irrigation.
5. Grand Anicut :
   KarikalaCholan, an early Chola King, constructed the grand Anicut. It is situated on the northern bank of Cauvery about 16 km east of Tiruchirappalli town and mainly used for irrigation purpose. With regard to water spread area, 75 system tanks and 99 seasonal/ rainfed tanks were found to exist and then covered 5751.14 ha. in the district.

Contact Details:

The Joint Director of Agriculture,
Mannarpuram,
Tiruchirappalli.
ph. 0431-2420554