Red Hills lake bed turns farmland as residents till and plant greens

CHENNAI: Every morning, farmers residing along the Red Hills reservoir are seen busy washing bunches of spinach and other greens and loading them in vans to be taken to T Nagar and West Mambalam . After the lake dried up, the farmers in the area occupied parts of the dried lake bed and converted it into farmland to grow spinach and other vegetables.

Each bunch fetches them around ?10 and a few have even given up their jobs in private firms to enter the business.

“Many people are entering this occupation because it’s yielding profits even if it takes a while,” said Murugan, one of the farmers. “There are no fixed prices for the crop, everything depends on the demand. But in the long run we are able to make profits,” he said.

With no one to monitor, the people have tilled the land using tractors or bullock and have planted the crop. The location is ideal because it has some moisture in the soil and water is also available close by. They have dug temporary wells to capture water from the subsoil and also use pumps to draw water from nearest patch of water in the lake.

There are at least 10 feet deep pits. The farmers have also dug at least a dozen wells, using excavators. The wells have pumps to irrigate the crops. The crop usually takes 28 days to harvest. Though the farming is not expected to affect water supply to the city, there is a concern of fertiliser contamination because they use pesticides which can remain on the lake bed and can mix with water when it rains.