Maharashtra: Post-monsoon rain damages crops on 1.36 lakh hectare

PUNE: The post-monsoon rain from October 16 to October 30 has damaged crops over 1.36 lakh hectare of land in Pune, Solapur, Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur.
The five districts comprise the Pune revenue division. Revenue officials feared that the damage figure would further increase, as the region would receive more rain from November 5 till November 8.

“Our endeavour is to clear the damaged crops from the farms and prepare the land for rabi cultivation.We will not be able to start the work, as the region is set to get more rain in the coming days. After November 9, officials of the revenue and agriculture departments will start the work on a war footing in all five districts,” Pune divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar told TOI on Sunday.
The division authorities have told their respective district collectors to carry out panchanama of the damaged crops.
“Once we complete the assessment of the damaged crops, we will prepare a report and submit it to the government. The farmers will get compensation within two weeks,” said Mhaisekar, who visited 12 villages in Satara, Sangli and Solapur districts on November 1 and 2.
Sangli, which had faced the maximum flood fury in September, was the worst-affected by the post-monsoon shower with the district registering crop damage across 65,267 hectare, followed by Solapur (36,345 hectare) and Pune (21,681 hectare).
“Over one lakh farmers have suffered losses so far. This number may go up. Some of them are grapes growers and have lost their vineyards in the October rain,” Sangli district collector Abhijeet Chaudhari told TOI over the phone.
In Pune district, crops on 21,681 hectare in 13 tehsils have been damaged in October. District collector Naval Kishore Ram, along with officials from the agriculture department, took stock of the situation to assess the crop losses on Saturday and Sunday.
“Ambegaon and Junnar tehsils are worst affected tehsils followed by Purandar, Baramati and Indapur. As per preliminary estimate, about 45,000 farmers have faced crop losses in the district. This number may increase in coming weeks. Grape plantations have been hit severely in the district. We have told the agriculture department officials to complete panchanama and the crop insurance process,” Ram told TOI.
Kharif crops spread over 36,000 hectare were badly affected in neighbouring Solapur district. “Around 31,000 hectare of soybean crops have been affected by the unseasonal rain. Our officials have completed 60% panchanama of the affected crops and the rest of the work will be completed in the next four days,” Solapur district collector Rajendra Bhosale told TOI.
Kharif crops on 11,800 hectare in Satara district have been damaged. “Strawberry plantation suffered losses in Mahabaleshwar, Panchgani and Wai areas,” district collector Shweta Singhal said.