Tamil Nadu has three crop seasons beginning June -- Kuruvai, Thaladi and Samba. The first and the last are considered important. In the delta region the three crops together cover an average of 7.26 lakh hectares. Last year it was 6.52 lakh hectares. Banking on favourable weather, the Tamil Nadu agriculture department has fixed targets for all important crops for 1998-99. It expects to bring 47 lakh hectares under foodgrains to produce 97.75 lakh tonnes and 14 lakh hectares under oilseeds to produce 21 lakhs. Cotton output is targeted at 7 lakh bales from 2.50 lakh hectares and 30.80 lakh tonnes of gur from 2.50 lakh hectares sugarcane cultivation. Though the water releasewas delayed by a week, the farmers in the Cauvery delta area, the rice bowl of Tamil Nadu, are in an upbeat mood because of the completion of a long-pending need -- the desilting of the rivers and canals. The state government had undertaken the mammoth operation for flood relief and to ease the flow of water at a cost of Rs 20 crore. It has almost completed the works. Farmers say in the 65 years since the Mettur dam was opened for irrigation in 1934 it is for the first time that such a massive project has been undertaken by the government. The river channels run to 14,000 km in the delta area. The state has a Rs 154-crore master plan to improve the irrigation system in the Cauvery delta for desilting in a phased manner in the coming years. Even before the water release from Mettur dam, pumpset irrigated areas in several districts, mainly Thanjavur and Tiruvarur, had started replanting operations.

In Thanjavur district, nurseries have been raised on 270 hectares and transplantation completed in 1488 hectaresup to June 15. Cauvery water has been available from June 24 and replanting operations will speed up now. In Tiruvavur district transplantation has been completed in about 120 hectares by June 20. With the release of water from Mettur, sowing in the entire 40,860 hectares in the district is about to be kicked off.