Dharampal Jarunde, a farmer from Dorli, Vidarbha cannot believe his bad luck. After losing his crop of Soyabean to excessive rain in monsoon last year, he has now lost 75% of wheat, a rabi crop, to the unseasonal hailstorms and showers that have lashed several parts of Maharashtra over the past two weeks.
“We haven’t even got the relief money that was declared in October and November for previous losses. So where is the question of getting any emergency relief?,” asks Jarunde, owner of a five-six acre plot, which in the past few years has refused to yield returns for the want of rains or market prices or excessive rains.
The situation is not too different on the orchards of Vitthal Mote in Beed District, Marathwada. The family-owned 70 acre farm that has Sweetlime, Mango, Wheat and Jowar stands completely destroyed with “not a single leaf” on the plants.
“We suffered from dry drought for two years and lost most of the crop. This year we put everything at stake after a spell of good rains, thinking we could recover. Now I just feel directionless and helpless,” says Vithhal Mote who has a loan of more than Rs 5 lakh and has also borrowed from family and friends.
According to the Chief Minister’s Office 28 lost their lives and more than 100 have been injured. As much as 13 lakh hectare farmland is affected by the hailstorms that have gone on for at least two weeks. 7,559 poultry birds and 1,621 farm animals have also died.
Pictures of farms and roads covered with snow-like hail, resembling any cold region in winter, have been doing the rounds on social networking sites. These are from Baramati, Marathwada, parts of Vidarbha. Nearly 28 of 35 districts of the state are said to be affected. Although unseasonal rains and hailstorms are not unheard of, they have never affected such large tracts of lands and for so long. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and other party leaders including MNS Chief Raj Thackeray are in the process of touring the region.