india

Updated: Aug 26, 2019 01:04 IST

Sakharam Shinde, a 44-year-old indebted farmer, was forced to borrow money from friends and relatives to arrange for water tankers to irrigate his orchards as water crisis escalated in Maharashtra’s drought-hit Beed district this summer. He was left with no option but to get rid of 110 out of 202 mango trees in one of his orchards at Pimpalner in Beed’s Wadwani tehsil as he unable to afford enough tankers after running up Rs 3 lakh bill.

“I also have orange plantation on a four-acre land and have spent almost Rs 3 lakh on water tankers since March. I have done this by borrowing money from friends and relatives. If this dry spell continues, then we would not have any option but to destroy [the orchards],” said Shinde. He added he was worried how he would repay his loans worth Rs 3 lakh.

Shinde is not alone. Many farmers in the parched region have been destroying their crops as most of them cannot afford to buy water to irrigate their fields.

Wadavani tehsildar Surekha Swami said he has received a report from the agricultural department that farmers have destroyed standing crops on around 13,000 hectares of land due to inadequate rainfall. “I have ordered a joint visit and panchnama [factual account] about the drought-affected areas. It will be conveyed to the government.”

Ram Ghodge, a resident of Rajuri Ghodka village, said he uprooted soybean and cotton he was cultivating on his four-acre land. “I uprooted the cotton crop as it suffered stunted growth due to inadequate rainfall. I did not want to invest more on insecticides. I want to save money for Rabi sowing [in spring],” said Ghodge 45, who also grows bajara on his two-acre land.

Officials said the drought in Maharashtra’s Marathwada region has entered its 41st week and rainfall deficiency in Beed, one of the region’s worst-hit districts, rose to 50% as of August 21 from 41% on August 14.

Beed has received just 169.9 mm rainfall until August 22, which is the lowest in Marathwada. The cumulative rainfall in Beed has been just 43.83% as against its average annual rainfall of 666 mm, according to India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The water crisis has left civic authorities with no option but to provide water just once in 15 days in Beed. In some worst-hit parts of the city, people get water just once in 20 days.

Beed’s superintending agriculture officer, R S Nikam, said many crops as a result of the water crisis have suffered from stunted growth and farmers have uprooted crops to avoid further losses. “Now the situation is so bad that it is difficult to recover the losses in the [current] Kharif season even if there is good rainfall henceforth,” he said.

Farmers in Beed are also facing a fodder crisis for their cattle along with the crop failure. They say the prices of cattle have dropped by almost 50% as a result.

Mukund Padune, a farmer from Pimplaner, said a bundle of fodder is costing him Rs 50 to 70 against Rs 30-50 per bundle. He added his three cows and four buffaloes need five such bundles each daily and he can no longer afford to feed them. Padune was last week forced to sell two of his cows for just Rs 12,000. He said he should have got Rs 25,000 for them in normal circumstances.

Many farmers’ unions have approached the district administration and have sought the government’s help.

Tahasildar Surekha Swami said the district administration has ordered a joint panchanama with talathi and gramsevak to finalise damaged area of crop, according to which compensation amount will be finalised.