Please tell the details about the relationship between Rainfall and agriculture in madurai?

Question

Please tell the details about the relationship between Rainfall and agriculture in madurai?

Answer 1

Because of low rainfall (NE monsoon) Madhurai has dryland Agriculture for rainfed crops and irrigated Agriculture depending on Kerala rivers.

Answer 2

Because agriculture has not been able to develop methods of in-land storage of enough water from major rain to the next it remains dependent on irrigation rather than just direct rainfall.

Even with in ground storage, the amount of rainfall would be barely adequate in many years.

Answer 3

rainfall is comparatively low, and mostly in the north east monsoon period, i.e., november-december. but most of the district gets irrigation from the Vaigai, which is fed by the waters of the Periyar diverted from Kerala. the water is stored in a reservoir, as well as in a large number of tanks. so long as there is rain in kerala, madurai gets a share!!! tamil nadu govt., pays a nominal amount to kerala for the water, but makes tremendous profit by charging water cess on farmers.

Answer 4

These days, India is a ‘boomtown’ of information and communication initiatives in agriculture and rural development. Mobile phones are fast reaching rural areas, phone centres are available in towns and villages, and government, private companies and civil society are experimenting with ways that information and communication technologies (ICTs) including the Internet can be used to benefit farmers and rural communities (see www.i4donline.net).

One of the most interesting of these initiatives is happening near Madurai in southern India. Here, farmer associations, self-help groups, NGOs, Internet kiosks, banks, agricultural colleges, and international groups – like the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) – have come together to harness information, knowledge and ICTs for agricultural development.

A key local enabler has been the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) with its multi-year support to projects that empower local communities with ICTs and knowledge. The common descriptor for these efforts is ‘L3 Farmers’ – LifeLong Learning for Farmers.

According to ‘development catalyst’ K. Balasubramanian, long associated with these activities through the MSSRF and COL, the critical dimension is to enable discourse and dialogue among the different people and organizations involved. According to ‘Bala’, people and communities have to mobilize themselves, it does not so matter much how, so they can discuss what they need and join forces to get it. Finding and empowering the mobilizers, or catalysts for change, is crucial. One of the key results of the L3 Farmers project is the way it has encouraged banks and NGOs to pay more attention to this mobilizing role, even hiring people to do work with community groups and do it properly.

As an example, in Kannivadi, an hour and a half by road from Madurai, the ‘Reddiarchatram Seed Growers Association’ got together and invested in a ‘knowledge centre’ to help document and share their knowledge. They set up and run a local e-commerce web site. Supported by the MSSRF, they also focused on ways the local farming community could use the Internet and ICTs to bring in information and knowledge, localizing this for their specific needs.

Read more at: iaald.blogspot.com/2008/01/lifelong-lear...

Rainfall is 85 cm per annum.