An Analysis of Factors Affecting Agriculture Productivity in Thanjavur District of the Cauvery Delta Region

Abstract

Agriculture plays a vital role in achieving food and nutritional security of the country. Cauvery delta zone in Tamil Nadu is a major contributor to agriculture production in the state. But in the recent years there is a decline in production of this region and farmer's conditions has deteriorated in the delta region since 2010. Atleast 80% of land in Thanjavur district had forgone the Kuruvai crop in the last five years and there has been a noticeable decline in agricultural land in this region due to climate change. The factors like change in soil water intrusion, increase in irrigation patterns and prices of agricultural inputs leads farmers to have low incomes(Jagannathan & Ramaraj, 2016). Further, the Climate change has increased cost of production for farmers as they are forced to buy more pesticides and insecticides to resolve new crop diseases. Scarcity of water and indebtedness are the common reasons behind farmers’ suicides in the Cauvery delta region(Sabarisakthi, 2016). An understanding of the nature of landholding is required to understand the importance of agriculture to household income. According to the Agriculture Census 2010-11, Small and marginal farmers cultivating less than five acres account for 91% of all farmers in Nagapattinam, 90% in Thiruvarur and 93% in Thanjavur. The proportion of net area sown to total geographical area is more than 50% in Thanjavur and Nagapattinam and more than 70% in Thiruvarur district, highlighting the importance of agriculture. This paper studies the problems faced by the farmers in the region and reasons behind the decline in agriculture activities over the years. Furthermore, this study uses time series analysis to analyse land use and cropping patterns in the Tamil Nadu district. The results reveals that there is a decrease in net sown area and change in cropping pattern due to erratic rainfall pattern and inadequate water facilities available for irrigation in the district.