Declare Theni district as ‘drought-hit’, farmers plead at grievance meet

Declare Theni district as 'drought-hit', farmers plead at grievance meet Published – August 21, 2026 10: 03 pm IST – THENI.

Key points

• According to The Collector, he would examine the feasibility by holding discussion with Horticulture department and others.
• The Tamil Nadu administration should waive the crop loans in an uniform manner and stop categorising them.
• Likewise, plenty of coconut trees in and around the Vaigai dam too needed water immediately, they pointed.
• The district administration should open a direct procurement centre in Theni and ensure that the DPC functioned through out the year and not only during season.
• Plenty of farmers in tail-end areas have planned to provide up cultivating this season, they asserted.

Collector R. Vaithinathan addressing farmers at Theni Collectorate on Friday. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement.

With poor rainfall and irregular distribution of water for irrigation due to encroachments in waterways, plenty of fields appeared bone dry, stated farmers at the monthly grievance session in Theni on Friday.

District Collector R. Vaithinathan presided over the session in which District Revenue Officer Rajkumar, District Forest Officer Kiran, Joint Director (Agriculture) Balasaraswathi, Joint Registrar (Cooperatives) Narmadha and PA (Agriculture) to Collector Valarmathi and others participated.

According to The farmers who had turned up in sizeable numbers, the Tamil Nadu administration should declare the district as drought-hit and provide compensation to the farmers as they were not able to secure water. According to When authorities, against a normal average annual rainfall of 384 mm, they had received 398 mm till August, the farmers noted that mismanagement and lack of proper distribution of water had resulted in a mess. Plenty of farmers in tail-end areas have planned to provide up cultivating this season, they asserted.

Between Kottakudi and Karaimadai, the crops had withered. Likewise, plenty of coconut trees in and around the Vaigai dam too needed water immediately, they pointed. According to The Collector, he would discuss with the office-holders in this regard.

When sugarcane growers raised the matter of arrears not being settled to them by the Rajshree Sugars, the Collector stated that the authorities would take steps in this regard and payments would be produced in the seniority order. He additionally suggested to display the settlement produced to the farmers on a weekly basis as it would be transparent. After the assurance, the farmers thanked the office-holders.

Like the storage space provided in markets for farmers to keep their produce like onion and tomatoes, the farmers wanted similar infrastructural facilities built in key locations, where they can store them at a low cost and be assured that the commodities were fresh. According to The Collector, he would examine the feasibility by holding discussion with Horticulture department and others.

For context, the Tamil Nadu administration should waive the crop loans in an uniform manner and stop categorising them. All are farmers and let there not be any difference or categorisation as major or small. Loss due to reasons beyond a farmer should be compensated only by the administration.

Notably, the district administration should open a direct procurement centre in Theni and ensure that the DPC functioned through out the year and not only during season. A permanent DPC has been demanded for long and the new administration should implement it, the farmers stated.

For now, declare Theni district as 'drought-hit', farmers plead at grievance meet remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.