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.
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Weather and climate experts are calling this phenomenon an “anomaly” and “unexpected.” “Hailstorms occur during the onset of summer but they are few and isolated. The scale of this is unexpected,” says K S Hosalikar, deputy director general, IMD, Mumbai. “These have been caused by two factors. The warmer easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal have collided with the relatively colder thrust from the Arabian Sea over Maharashtra. The wind discontinuity causes tall clouds and thunderstorms. Secondly, the freezing level in upper air has come down causing more hail formation. However, we are still investing other factors to analyse if this can recur.”
With some time to go before crops can be harvested and stored, the storms have destroyed nearly 75% of standing crops. “Fruit crops are the most vulnerable to hails followed by nearly mature grain like wheat,” says N Chattopadhyay, Deputy Director General of Meteorology (Agricultural Meteorology), India Meteorological Department. “Since 26th of February it has been recorded in Madhya Pradesh, Vidarbha, Marathwada and south central Maharashtra. Although hailstorms develop very fast, we are able to give 24-hour forecast through mobile text messages.” A service that has been active for two years, it covers more than 1, 50,000 farmers across Maharashtra.
However, despite getting a warning there is little that a farmer can do. “When a farmer spends about Rs 10-12,000 per acre, he expects Rs. 20,000 for the crop if all goes well. Already a bank defaulter, help of Rs 4000 per hectare was declared after floods, that is less than 2000 per acre. And they are yet to receive it. How can one cope?’ says Vijay Jawandia, farmer and activist from Vidarbha, who had last seen heavy unseasonal rains in 1997. Marathwada farmers say they have never seen such persistent storms. The weather forecast says the condition will ease in four to five days.
“The government needs to look at this calamity as a natural disaster. If people lose their houses in floods, then the government builds houses for them. So why not rebuild our crops? They should look at 100% compensation,” says Jawandia.
However, Dharampal is less hopeful. “Since Prime Minister’s visit in 2006 (in the suicide affected Vidarbha) and his package, nothing really changed. We are still in the same cycle. No one has come to survey the damage. I am just tired and bored of this whole thing.” The skies haven’t yet tired of lashing the farms though.
