10 distressed farmers die in 24 hours in Nagapattinam district

TRICHY: Demonetisation and drought have thrown life out of gear for farmers, with many of them committing suicide or dying of cardiac arrest. In the last 24 hours, as many as 10 farmers have lost their lives due to cardiac arrest in Nagapattinam district alone. According to farmers associations, 30 of the 51 delta farmers who had lost their lives due to crop loss were from Nagapattinam.Farmers from this district seem to be the worst affected as the region forms the tail end of the peninsula. The increasing percentage of soil salinity also contributed to crop loss, say experts.
Kaliaperumal, 60, from Orkudi village in Kilvelur block died on his two acre land where he had taken up samba cultivation on Friday. He is survived by his wife Arivinkodi and two daughters. R Saroja, 67, wife of Ramakrishnan and a native of Kadambara Vazhkai village, also died of a heart attack on Friday evening. She had been cultivating crops on two acres of land.
Venkatasalam of Vadugakudi, Veeramani, 30, of Kadamankudi, Thirumavalavanraj of Polagam village in Thirumarugal union, Pakkirisamy of Pudukkarai village, Ganapathi of Panchanathikulam village, Gohilavasan, 73, of Keelsethi and Rajkumar, 36, of Semangalam South Street, also died of cardiac arrest reportedly due to crop failure.
On Thursday evening, V Kannan, 45, from Thiruppugalur village of Thirumarugal union, was found unconscious near his two acre paddy field where he had cultivated samba through direct sowing. He was rushed to his house but died on the way. His wife K Vaalambaal, 40, had expired recently. The couple is survived by their three children.
A 70-year-old farmer, K Pakkirisamy of Ramarnatham East village, died while returning home from his farm early on Friday morning. He had taken up samba cultivation across three acres using the conventional transplantation method. He had been irrigating his land from Keeran Lake.