Farmers from rainfed agricultural land areas in Thoothukudi district have sought a summer ploughing subsidy from the State government, to benefit farmers in the region, who have started preparing the lands for the upcoming cultivation season.Thoothukudi district has around 1.50 lakh hectares of agricultural lands depending on the northeast monsoon rainfall across Vilathikulam, Kayathar, Pudur, Ottapidaram, Kovilpatti and Kayathar blocks. Crops such as cotton, maize, back gram, green gram, chilly and shallots are some of the major crops cultivated in these areas during rabi season.As rabi season commences in a couple of months, many farmers in the region have started ploughing their lands. However, this current season has prompted the farmers to seek release of subsidies for summer ploughing .A.Varadharajan, president of Karisal Bhoomi Farmers Association, stated that the previous government had provided a summer ploughing subsidy of ₹500 per acre, subject to a maximum of five acres per farmer. Accordingly, a maximum assistance of ₹2,500 was credited directly to farmers’ bank account between June and July months, he added.“However, nearly two months after the new government assumed office, no applications have been invited from farmers and no announcement has been made regarding the summer ploughing subsidy,” he noted.He urged that officials should bring this grievance to the attention of the Chief Minister for the release of summer ploughing subsidy funds for the rainfed agriculture farmers in Thoothukudi district.Senthil Arumugam, Kovilpatti town secretary of CPI, highlighted the need to increase the summer ploughing subsidy, citing the increased cost of cultivation. He emphasised that action must be taken to release the subsidy to support farmers.Mr. Varadharajan also stated that now agriculture involves significant expenditure on seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, weedicides and other modern farming outputs. This has substantially increased the crop cultivation costs, which includes land preparation through ploughing and crop maintenance.Speaking on this concern raised by farmers, an official from Agriculture department in Thoothukudi district told The Hindu that no communication had been received from the government regarding the summer ploughing subsidy. Published - July 09, 2026 07:22 pm IST