Under intensive district area programme this office was functioning from the year 1962 under the control of Programme Director in the cadre of Joint Director of Agriculture. In the year 1981, the Training and Visit system was introduced in the Agricultural Department. In the year 1987 the Tamil Nadu Agricultural Develop ment programme was introduced.

As a remarkable achievement, in the current year Ipomea was eradicated in 650 hectares by utilizing 126739 man days. Total No. of Agricultural labourers benifitted are 32302 Nos. Important scheme under taken was Integrated Cereal Development Programme (Rice) and TANWA scheme.

Thanjavur district is essentially a deltaic plain comprising of old and new delta. The old delta has a net work of canals and channels of the river Cauvery and Vennar. Upper portion of this new delta area is irrigated by Grant Anaicut canal. Tapping of ground water is done considerably in this area to advance the first cropping season Kuruvai to avoid damage due to North East monsoon and to accommodate the two crops namely Kuruvai and Thaladi.

The soils of new deltaic area are amenable to wide variety of crops such as Coconut, Mango, Guaua, Pulses, Cotton, Gingelly, Groundnut, Banana etc. Cultivation of oilpalm and Soyabean is also carried out in this district wherever assured water supply and drainage facilities are available.

The major crops cultivated in Thanjavur district are Paddy, Pulses, Gingelly, Groundnut and Sugarcane. The minor crops like Maize, Soyabeans, Redgram are also grown.
Paddy is the principal crop grown in three seasons viz. Kuruvai, Samba and Thaladi.
Pulses like Blackgram, Greengram and cash crops like Cotton and Gingelly are grown in rice fallows.

In new delta area, the Groundnut is the principal crop Sugarcane is cultivated both in new delta and old delta. Banana is primarily grown in Padugai lands.

The area coverage of difference food and non-food crops cultivated in Thanjavur district during 1999-2000 is furnished below.

According to Agriculture progress in Thanjavur district issued by the Joint Director of Agriculture, Thanjavur , the year-wise and seasonwise area coverage under paddy productivity and production of paddy in the district during 1992-2000 has been listed below:

Production of Thanjavur district has been maintained at 10.615 L.M.T. and 7.077 L.M.T. level respectively during 1999-2000 when compared with the year 1992-93. Eventhough the extent of area under Paddy is slowly decreasing from 2.009 lakh hectares in 1992-93 to 1.891 Lakh Hec. in 1999-2000, the Paddy Production in 1999-2000 has been mentioned to the level of 92-93 due to the adoption of improved Agricultural technologies and continued efforts taken by the Agricultural Department.

It is also pointed out that due to Cauvery water dispute with karnataka State, the farmers of Thanjavur district could not get adequate water for irrigation and consequently face loss of Paddy Production to some extent. Further every year these may be a monsoon cyclone flood, drought situation may occur during Rabi season which may also considerably affect the Paddy Production in Thanjavur district.

Normally Paddy is being raised in Thanjavur district in 4 seasons. The first crop is known as “Kuruvai” the short term crop with a duration of 100-115 days from June/ July to October/ November. The average extent of Kuruvai crop in Thanjavur district is 33500 Hec. (i.e.) 17.7% of the total paddy area. The Paddy crop cultivated after harvesting the Kuruvai crop is called “Thaladi” which has a duration of 110-125 days from October /November to February /March. Thaladi crop is being raised normally in an area of 29400 Hectares which accounts for 15.6% of the total Paddy area.

The more important season for Paddy Crop in Thanjavur district is Samba season. Samba is a long term crop with a duration of 135 days to 150 days from August to November to January/ February /March is being raised as a single crop where the water is very less and not available for two crops.

In Thanjavur district, Samba crop constitute 63% of the total Paddy area with an annual Paddy Production of 60.45% of the total Paddy Production.
Finally Summer Paddy is also raised in this district in a small area of 7000 hec. from December/ January to March / April.

Considerable improvement has been made in the production and productivity of Paddy due to adoption of improved technologies invented by the Agricultural Scientist and the invent of improved Paddy varieties and also due to constant extension activities of the Agriculture Department. As a result these has been a repid increase in per hectare yield of Paddy in the district which shot upto 5614 Kg./hec. in 1999-2000, as combined average against the traditional 1960-61 and 1971-72 average which stood at 2,264 and 3011 Kg./hec. respectively.

The distribution of Bio-fertilizers in the district are varying according to the area covered in different crops as detailed below: (separate sheet enclosed)
By adopting integrated Pest Management Technologies, the use of chemical pesticides were drastically reduced. Nowadays the use of bio-pesticides and botanical pesticides are in increasing trend among the farmers.

IRRIGATION :

The presence of the river Cauvery and numerous irrigation projects that have been carried out even from days of Chola Kings can be considered as the best irrigation system in Tamil Nadu. Especially in arenaceous soil tracts in Pattukkottai, provision of irrigation has been proved very useful. The necessity for irrigation was realised very early and irrigation systems of the district are date back to days of early Cholas. Thanjavur today has one of the best irrigation systems in the State and ranks foremost in the area irrigated. Over 70% of the gross cropped area is under irrigation systems from one source or the other. It would be obvious if one see the net area irrigated in the district, over 90% of the net sown enjoys the benefit of irrigation. The total area irrigated in Thanjavur district stood at 2,17,581 hectare during 1999-2000. The chief sources of irrigation in the district are rivers, a few rainfed tanks, tubes wells and wells. These tanks and wells situated mostly in the upland regions Cauvery and Coleroon are the most important rivers in the district and as these rivers, a few rained have their origin in the western ghats, they are fed by the southwest monsoon. Strictly speaking agriculture in the district is dependent on the river cauvery as most of the irrigated area in the district derive water from Cauvery and its numerous branches. A birds eye view of the course of the Cauvery in Thanjavur will show how and where it has been tapped efficiently for irrigation. About 80% of the total net area irrigated is served by canals and these canals are fed by the river Cauvery. Thus Cauvery is the primary source of irrigation in the district. The Cauvery delta system in Thanjavur which comprises mainly three important projects viz., the Grand Anicut, The Cauvery, Vennar and Cauvery Mettur project.

The oldest and the most significant among these three is Grand Anicut and is reported to have been constructed during the Sangam Age of Chola Period. This has been built at the junction of rivers Cauvery and Coleroon about sixteen kilometers from Thiruchirappalli at the lower end of Srirangam island and is designed to regulate the water supply which comes down the Cauvery from the Upper Anicut. When the supply exceeds the requirements of the delta channels, the gates of the Grand Anicut are raised and the surplus water is passed down into the Coleroon where it proceeds down to the Lower Anicut and it is again regulated and utilized for irrigation by means of other canals. The Grand Anicut was first built by granite stones and mud with an outer layer of granite blocks in lime mortar. Its length is 1080’ and breadth is 40’ to 60’ with a depth of 15’ to 18’. Later on, it has undergone numerous improvements. In 1806, it was raised further and in 1830 it provided with sand scouring sluices. Some fifty years later, the stones were removed and replaced by lifting shutters in 1899. The main purpose of this anicut was to check and control the waste water running into Coleroon. Sir Arthur Cotton, an able engineer, built a masonry wall at the head of the Coleroon in 1836, in order to prevent silting up of Cauvery in the deltaic region by Coleroon so as to keep enough water in the main river Cauvery. After the construction of the Upper Anicut, floods often threatened the anicut and then occurred serious erosions on the banks of the Cauvery. This danger was however minimised in 1845 by the construction of Cauvery dam. In order to avoid the dander completely, Upper Anicut was rebuilt in 1899 so as to provide passage flood water down the Coleroon in cases of emergency. Cauvery Vennar regulators which is immediately below othe Grand Anicut divide the stream between rivers and control flow of water. Just below these small regulators are built in order to effect proper distribution of water among various branches of the rivers and other numberous irrigation channels. The Coleroon anicut was also the product of the mastermind of engineer Sir Arthur Cotton and was built in the order to irrigation the north eastern columns of the district, especially the taluks of Mayiladuthurai and Sirkazhi which were not adequately covered by the Cauvery system. This dam was extended remodeled and rebuilt on the same lines as the Upper Anicut. A few major repair works for strengthening of the dam were undertaken early this century.

Channels of this anicut irrigated an area of 182953 Hectares in Thanjavur District. The Total area irrigated by the system (for the first crop alone) to 1,50,943 hectares apart from 29,866 acres under the second crop.

The idea to built a reservoir on the Cauvery in order to irrigate the deltaic regions of the district was that of Sir Arthur Cotton whom the entire district will remember and owes ever. Numerous proposals were put forward and investigations carried on before and finally in 1910, Colonel W.M.Ellis worked out a practicable schemes, but there was disagreement between Tamil Nadu and the Karnataka Governments of the question of sharing Cauvery water. At the end, it was due to the efforts of Dr. C.P.Ramaswamy Iyer, the then member of the executive council, that an agreement was arrived at. According to this agreement, the scheme was to be executed subject to certain conditions and most important of which were that both the states should built their own reservoirs and that the reservoirs at Mettur should be limited to a capacity of not exceeding 93000 million cubic feet so that it should irrigate over 3,01,000 acres. Based on the conditions, Mettur reservoir or the Stanley Reservoir was constructed.

Mettur Dam is the biggest dam in the State, with a length measuring over 5300 and height 214 above the deepest foundations. The project has been designed to ensure steady supply of water irrigation to over a million acres already supported by the Cauvery delta system and to irrigate an additional area of about 3,00,000 acres in Mannargudi, Pattukkottai and Thanjavur taluks. The utility of the scheme is manifold. by the storage of flood water in the reservoirs, the dam has made it possible to provide sufficient supply of water for agricultural purposes during the inter monsoon periods and also to safeguard cultivation against the unforeseen vagaries of nature. Even in times of drought, the project ensures even supply and distribution of available water. Apart from these, it also acts as a barrier against onrush of Cauvery in all its fury during the north east monsoon period and causing serious damage to crops and lands.

During the last decade, the agriculturists of the district suffered a heavy damage to crops for want of timely and sufficient supply of water from Cauvery. Due to pressure from the Government of Tamil Nadu. Union Government has constituted a tribunal on the Cauvery water between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Total food and non-food crops 2,17,581.

It is noted that 59.8% of the area falls under the net area sown. It is also obvious that Land under forest is much below the state Average but this ecological imbalance has to some extent set aside by the land under miscellaneous tree crops and groves of 1.8% which is equal to the state percentage of 1.8.

TENANCY :

Most of the lands were under the control of big landlords in the pre-independence days. After Independence introduction of Land Ceiling Act and other Acts protecting the interest of tenants, the size of holdings of individuals have been minimised. More than 80% of lands were with small farmers and the average size of the holdings is less than 5 hectares.
According to Agriculture seasons, 1995-96 the size of the land holdings of the Thanjavur district is listed below:

SOIL :

The geological formation of Thanjavur district is made up of cretaceous, Tertiary and Alluvial deposits and the major area is occupied by the Alluvial and Tertiary deposits.
The cretaceous formation occur as a small patch in West and South-West of Vallam. These formations have a very thick lateritic cap consisting of impure lime stones and sand stones of silt, clay calcarious and argillaceous variety, in the coast, these formations are over lain by Cuddalore sand stone of tertiary age.

The Cuddalore sand stone of Tertiary age are well developed as best seen, West of Grant Anaicut canal and near Orathanadu. These sand stones are covered by a thin layer of wind brown sandy clays, unconsolidated sand, clay bound sands and mottled clays with the lignite seams. This tertiary formation is invariably capped by laterite.
In the east, the alluvial deposits of the river Cauvery and its tributaries lie over the Tertiary sand stone. They consist of sands, gravelly sands, clays and sandy clays. The thickness of these formations ranges from 30 Mt. to 400 Mt.

RIVERS :

The river Cauvery and its tributaries are the most remarkable feature of Thanjavur District. Cauvery is considered to be the best of the river that drain the Southern Pennisula of India. The river flows from Karnataka State and passes through Dharmapuri, Salem, Erode, Thiruchirappali ,Thanjavur, Thiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts covering a distrance of about 770 Kms. draining an area about 72.800 sq.km. in all. Springing from a spot lying on Brahmagiri Mountains on western-ghats at a height of 1,320 metres above sea level, Cauvery meandus its way across Karnataka and Tamilnadu and showering not only economic prosperity of millions of people but also carving a riche for itself in their lives in historical , culture and religious realms.

Emerging as a small rivulet from the Coorg mountains the river Cauvery expands rapidly increasing in volume, as hundreds of streams and rivulet merge with it which are mostly fed on the heavy rainfall of the south- West monsoon. After Sivasamudram Falls in Mysore, the Cauvery again forms beautiful waterfalls at Hoganekal in Dharmapuri District.

The three minor tributaries , Palar, Chennar and Thoppar enter into the Cauvery on her course, above Mettur , where the famous dam has been constructed. The Mettur dam joins the Sita and Pala mountains beyond that valley through which the Cauvery flow, upto the Grand Anicut. The dam in Mettur, impounds water not only for the improvement of irrigation but also to ensure the regular and sufficient of water to the important Hydro-Electric generating station at Mettur. The river further runs through Erode district where river Bhavani merges with it. While passing through Erode, two more tributatries vice versa. Noyyal and Amaravathi join it before it reaches Thiruchirappalli district. Here the river becomes wide, with a sandy bed and flows in an earterly direction till splits into two at upper anicut about 14 kilometres west of Thiruchirappalli. The northern branch of river is called the Coleroon while the southern branch retains the same name Cauvery and then goes directly eastwards into Thanjavur District. These two rivers join again and form the Srirangam island near Thiruchirappalli.

The Chola king, “Karikalan” has been immortalised as he has constructed the bank for the Cauvery all the way from Puhar (Kaveripoompattinam) to Srirangam. It was built as far back as 1,600 years ago or even more. On both sides of the river are found walls spreading to a distance of 1,080 feet. The dam Kallanai on the border between Tiruchirappalli and Thanjavur constructed by him is a superb work of engineering, which was constructed with earth and stone and has stood the vagaries of nature for hundreds of years. In 19th century, it was renovated in a bigger scale. The name of the historical dam has since been changed to “Grand Anicut” and stands as the head of great irrigation system in the Thanjavur district. From this point, the coloroon runs north-east and discharges herself into the sea at Devakottai, a little south of Parangipettai. From river Coleroon, Manniar and Uppanai Branch of at lower Anicut and irrigates a portion of Mayiladuthurai taluk and Sirkazhi taluk. After Grand Anicut, the Cauvery divides into numerous branches and cover the whole of the delta with a vast network of irrigation channels and gets lost in the wide expanse of paddy fields. The mighty Cauvery river here is reduced to an insignificant channel and falls into the Bay of Bengal at the historical place of Poompuhar (Kaveripoompatinam) about 13 Kms north of Tharangampadi. The river Cauvery flows the entire district in different names through its tributaries and branches viz., Grand Anicut canal, Vennar, Pannaiyar, Koraiyar, Vettar, Kodamuritiyar, Thirumalairajanar, Arasalar, Veerasozhanar, Mudikondan, Noolar, Vanjiar, Vikaraman, Nattar, Kirtimanar, Nandalar, Majalar, Mahimalayar, Palavar, Cholasudamani, Puthar, Valappar, Vadavar, pamaniar, Mulliyar, Ayyanar, Adappar, Harichandranathi, Vellaiyar, Pandavaiyar, Odambogiyar, Kattar, Kaduvaiyar and all these branch off into a number of small streams.

Among the various names by which the holy Cauvery is known during its course, the most popular in Tamil Nadu is “Mother Cauvery” due to the high sancity attached to it. It is worshipped by the people irrespective of caste, creed or religion during Maha Magam festival celebrated at Kumbakonam once in 12 years. The Pilgrims after a bath in Mahamagam tank proceed for a holy dip in Cauvery which is belived to purge of all sins. In the Tamil month of Adi (July – August) on the 18th day, (adi-Perukku), the people throng the bank of the river for the holy bath and pray the mother Cauvery for their prosperity. In the Tamil month of Aypasi (October- November) thousands of devotees participate in a festival called “Kuda Muzhukku” celebrated on the banks of the river Cauvery at Mayiladuthurai. Many famous temples on the banks of river Cauvery and its tributaries have also earned fame as either sacred religious centers or beautiful scenery spots, providing the much needed respite and mental solace to urbanites.

RAINFALL AND CLIMATE :

The climate of Thanjavur can be termed as a fairly healthy one like other coastal areas. November, December, January and February are the pleasant months in a year with climate full of warm days and cool nights. From March onwards, the climate rather becomes sultry and the mercury schools and reaches its peak by the end of May and June depending upon the set of summer rain. The North-East monsoon in October brings complete relief. The South-West monsoon sets in June and continues till September. The rainfall during this period in much lower than that of North-East monsoon which sets in October and continues more or less till February (Upto Winter). However Thanjavur District is benefited more by North-East monsoon because of its heavy rainfall and the Western ghats invariably feeds the Cauvery and helps greatly for the vast cultivation of the deltaic area.