Chennai, Apr 27 (IANS): With most of the reservoirs in the drought-prone districts of Vellore, Ranipet, Thirupathur and Tiruvannamalai left with only 55 per cent of water, farmers have been advised to shift to crops that require less water.

Sources in the Tamil Nadu water resources department told IANS that the 55 per cent of water that is remaining in the major reservoirs of the region will not be used for agriculture and it will only be used for domestic consumption.

The weather department has already said that the temperature in these districts would touch 44 degrees Celsius in days to come.

At present the temperatures in these districts are anywhere between 38 to 42 degrees Celsius.

Extreme heatwave conditions have led to the drying up of Palar River which is one of the main sources of water in this region.

The Tamil Nadu agriculture department has advised farmers to cultivate crops like maize, ragi, groundnuts, wheat and pulses like green gram and urad as these crops require less water.

These crops, according to the Tamil Nadu agriculture department officials, will also give higher returns to the farmers.

In Tamil Nadu the crops traditionally being cultivated by farmers are sugar cane, paddy and banana which require large quantities of water.

K Ramaswamy, a sugar cane farmer in Tiruppatur, told IANS, “The agriculture department has already asked us to switch from sugar cane and paddy farming to maize, wheat and ragi cultivation as there is extreme shortage of water in the region. We are however yet to decide on this even though the department has informed us of the benefits of switching over to the new crops.”

The farmers have also been advised to switch to drip irrigation techniques for water conservation.