Once known as the rice bowl of TN, Tanjavur is now plagued with issues threatening agri. Govt fails wholly here too.

Expressing profound anguish over the deepening agrarian crisis across central Tamil Nadu on March 20, 2014, DMK Treasurer M. K. Stalin highlighted how Thanjavur—celebrated for millennia as the fertile rice bowl of Tamil Nadu—was now plagued by severe systemic distress threatening the very survival of agriculture. Stalin pointed out that while delta farmers faced recurrent droughts, severe depletion of groundwater tables, and unaddressed pest attacks, the AIADMK administration had utterly failed to provide timely irrigation water or secure fair minimum support prices. He emphasized that the state government stood entirely paralyzed while private and cooperative sugar mills withheld hundreds of crores in statutory dues owed to cane growers. Stalin recalled the visionary agricultural policies implemented under previous DMK governments led by Dr. Kalaignar Karunanidhi, which pioneered free farm electricity, waived seven thousand crores of cooperative agricultural loans, and constructed modern Uzhavar Sandhais (farmers markets) to eliminate middleman exploitation. He pledged that upon returning to power, the DMK will prioritize drip irrigation subsidies, desilt irrigation canals, and guarantee remunerative minimum support prices. Stalin affirmed that farmer welfare and delta agricultural dignity will always remain at the core of Dravidian governance.