Less than 200 km from Mumbai, this farmer, who had prepared his paddy field along the hillside for sowing, got down to work after it rained heavily for two days in succession.
The IMD's assurance that the slight delay in monsoon is not expected to push back crop sowing, and that rains will make rapid progress on arrival, is unlikely to bring any cheer to Adivasi farmer Kashinath Bhiva of the tribal hamlet of Mojalwadi, Murbad tehsil in Thane district.
Less than 200 km from Mumbai, this farmer, who had prepared his paddy field along the hillside for sowing, got down to work after it rained heavily for two days in succession. "Crows were building nests and the frogs came out. We see these as signs of the monsoon. So I sowed paddy seeds only to lose it all," he lamented, breaking down while speaking to dna. "Generally, once the monsoon sets in, we have plenty of rainfall for a month. But this time, the intense heat scorched the tender sproutings and I have lost everything."
It is a story which repeats itself in the surrounding villages of Kuthal, Baragaon, Shilyachiwadi too. Activist Dashrath Wagh of Shramik Mukti Sangathana, which works with the tribals in the region, explained how the delay keeps reducing the window of opportunity for successful planting of paddy under rain-fed conditions. "Even if we get normal rainfall for the remaining season, crop and water balance lead to poor performance of paddy over the widespread area."
Across the state, cotton farmers in Wadchi village in the heart of farmer suicide country too are left with the prospect of looking fresh finances to fund the buying of seeds again. "We are seeing more heat wave conditions in current times than even the hot summer months of April and May," said farms rights activist Kishore Tiwari of the Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti. According to Tiwari, the uncertainty over rains is creating an air of despondency across Vidarbha and Marathwada region. "Wonder what the weather experts with all their multi-crore paraphernalia are doing if they can't give a more exacting indications about the rain. For the farmer, this is not just the question of re-sowing, there can be a lot riding on the crop as there are earlier debts which s/he is trying to repay."
The continuing heat wave is taking a toll on the vegetable belt extending from Nashik district to Junnar and Narayangaon in Pune district. "Without adequate pre-monsoon rains the heat is worsening the water scarcity.
Already the ground water recharge has been poor due to a 60-100% deficit rains," said Ratnakar Lad, a vegetable farmer from Khamgaon village in Junnar district who grows brinjal, ladyfinger and bottle gourd. "If conditions are so bad in our perennially green belt, one can imagine what it will be like in arid Marathwada."
When dna spoke to Vegetable Growers Association of India chairperson, Shriram Gadave he first wanted to know the price of tomatoes in Mumbai. When told that it was Rs 95-100 a kilo, he laughed, "And this has been bought from our farmers at Rs 3-4 a kilo. Now they are making a killing. When farmers get to know, they will plant tomatoes big time and next year the traders will return to loot both us and city dwellers."
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