Farmers Movement Archive

Retreating rains destroyed 7 lakh ha of harvest-ready crops in Maharashtra

MUMBAI: A fortnight ago, Siddhesh Jamdade was busy harvesting his bountiful soyabean crop. Now, his field has turned into a muddy marshland. The cloudbursts over the last week caused the river nearby to swell onto his field. "My onion and soyabean crop was destroyed and the flooding left a thick layer of mud on the field, almost like a river bank," said the 30-year-old farmer from Tuljapur in Marathwada's Osmanabad district whose losses amount to nearly Rs 10 lakh. The flooding caused by the retreating monsoon destroyed almost 7 lakh hectares of harvest-ready cro-ps, mainly in the drought-prone Marathwada and the sugar belt of Western Maharashtra, according to preliminary estimates. The neighbouring districts of Solapur in Western Maharashtra and Osmanabad in Marathwada are the worst affected. Standing crops of soyabean, cotton, maize, jowar and moong have been wrecked. "It is only after panchnamas are conducted that we will have a more authentic estimate of crop destruction," said secretary (relief and rehabilitation) Kishore Raje Nimbalkar. Farmers did not get good prices for their produce during the height of the lockdown and were hoping the plentiful monsoon would lead to a bumper kharif harvest. "During the lockdown, I grew vegetables for our own consumption. We were banking on the kharif crop," said Rajendra Giri (50) from Lohara taluka in Osmanabad. The floods washed away his harvested soyabean. Farmers are worried about whether they will receive crop insurance for the disaster. They say the compensation-ranging from Rs 6,800 to Rs 18,000 an acre by NDRF norms-is too meagre for such calamities. Chakrapani Jadhav from Beed's Patoda taluka could not get insurance for his chikoo plantation because the fruit was not eligible for crop insurance in his circle. The farmers' union, Kisan Sabha, has alleged that the retreating rains have damaged 30% of the state's harvested crop. "The government should not delay conducting panchnamas of the damage. Besides compensation, the state should also help farmers in filing crop insurance claims," said Ajit Navale of the union. Already in June, farmers from the Konkan region had suffered because of cyclone Nisarg. Last year, the floods in Western Maharashtra had destroyed 4 lakh hectares of crop and unseasonal rains had impacted 93 lakh hectares of crop across the state during the kharif harvest.

The Times of India

2020-10-19

Mumbai