Wet drought call after Oct rains ruin 78,000 hectares of paddy in Maharashtra

Heavy downpour in western parts of the state have left farmers a worried lot. While rains are playing havoc with kharif crops such as soyabean in Northern Maharashtra, damage to rabi crops such as paddy over a vast stretch — from Ghoti in Nashik district to the Goa border — is even more severe. Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts have seen squalls accompanied by heavy showers for over a week now, and the standing water in paddy fields is making the crop rot.

“We are experiencing cloudbursts. The local brooks and rivers are in spate and are changing course. There has been heavy erosion and the small check dams are broken in several places. The surging water is flooding the fields and destroying crops on which farmers have toiled for months,” BJP MLA from Kankavli, Pramod Jathar told DNA. “Konkan MLAs have demanded the declaration of a wet drought. We want the revenue department to conduct immediate panchanamas so that compensation packages can be worked out. People are angry and want action from the state,” he added. According to Jathar, by conservative estimates, paddy crop has been destroyed in over 78,000 hectares.

Making matters worse is the choppy sea due to the low depression over the Arabain Sea near Maharashtra coast.

Though 400kms north of Nashik, there have been barely enough rains to fill up dams this monsoon, consistent, heavy downpours over the last three days have caused problems for the ready-for-harvest soyabean crop near the city. The oil seed is sown over nearly 45,000 hectares in Nashik.

The rains are damaging not only the already harvested crop, but also the standing one. Once wet, the oil seed is prone to rotting and will hardly get any yield for the farmers who are also suffering losses on cereal like bajra.