Seeds of Sorrow: Farmers in Marathwada fear a harvest of losses this year

Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar (Aurangabad), Maharashtra

Shahadeo Dhakane cultivates a variety of crops on his almost five hectares of land. This kharif (monsoon) season, the 50-year-old farmer from Devgaon village

in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar district (formerly Aurangabad) in Maharashtra, has sown cotton and tur dal (pigeon pea). A part of his farmland has mosambi [sweet lime] trees, now wilting in the summer heat, and mulberry trees whose leaves have dried.

“There’s not even a single crop on my land which is expected to do well this year. The monsoon rains have played truant. Whatever I had sown is wilting and dying,” the farmer from drought-prone Marathwada region of Maharashra, which is also known as the farmer suicide capital of India, told Gaon Connection.

Dhakane said that he had spent around Rs 10,000 on buying seeds for tur dal and another Rs 15,000 for buying cotton seeds. He is now staring at heavy losses.

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Millions of farmers like Dhakane in Maharashtra are desperately waiting for the rains so as to be able to salvage the kharif crop seeds they have sown, or undertake double sowing.

The onset of southwest monsoon over India was late by a week this year; and thereafter, due to the formation of Cyclone Biparjoy, the progress of monsoon has been slow. This has set the alarm bells ringing in the semi-arid Marathwada region of the state where a large chunk of farmers are dependent on rainfall for farming.

Delay in monsoon rainfall, or long dry periods often translate into crop failure, which often contributes to high farmer suicide cases. As per news reports, last year, in 2022, at least 1,023 farmers died by suicide in Marathwada. This comes to almost three farmers taking their lives every day!

And this year, the monsoon is behind schedule. As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), till today i.e. June 20, the rainfall deficit in Maharashtra (between June 1 and June 20) is recorded as minus 88 per cent. The IMD data shows that against a normal rainfall of 119.20 millimetres, the state has so far recorded merely 14.90 millimetres. Marathwada has a rainfall departure of minus 90 per cent.

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Monsoon missing, losses mounting

According to Dhakane, for farmers in Marathwada, this time of the year — called ‘mrig nakshatra’ — is special. “A period of twenty days since the arrival of monsoon rains [around June 7] is known as mrig nakshatra. It is believed that if we sow our kharif [monsoon] crops till June 20, the chances of a good harvest are plenty,” the farmer explained.

But, so far, there have been no proper rains this monsoon season. Farmers have already started counting their losses. They believe this year will be a harvest of losses.

Deepak Joshi, another farmer from Devgaon village, told Gaon Connection that he had ordered seeds of urad [black gram split] and moong [green gram] pulses for Rs 20,000, but his sowing has gone waste.

“The seeds dried up and there was little hope of germination left. I have ploughed my field again and this time I am arranging for funds to buy some seeds of tur dal now,” said Joshi. “For farmers who are still waiting for the moong and urad seeds to germinate they might also lose out on tur dal as the timing of sowing is crucial and the time is fleeting. Not everyone has the money to invest in one seed after another,” he added.

Fall in crop production likely

Gokul Salunke, 36-year-old farmer from Ghaygaon village in Vaijapur tehsil pointed out that the timing of the advent of monsoon rains has also wreaked havoc on coarse crops like maize. Salunke said that he had so far spent Rs 10,000 on maize seeds and another Rs 8,000 on cotton seeds. The owner of 14 acres [almost four hectares] of land informed that his biggest expense was on the fertilisers, a whopping Rs 100,000.

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“The monsoon rainfall used to arrive here by June 7 but this year it has been very dry. The rainfall that happened was very little and it has in a way duped farmers. It would have been better if it didn’t rain at all. At least farmers wouldn’t have invested in seeds. This year, I am expecting a fall in production of maize by 30 per cent,” Salunke told Gaon Connection.

Standing beside him, his friend Bhishma Mapari told Gaon Connection that his expenses on soybean seeds were all a waste now.

Dhakane said that he had never witnessed such heat during the mrig nakshatra. “The rainfall so far has been very poor. The seeds of my tur crop are not even germinating. Also, cotton, which I had sown after it rained a couple of weeks back, is now all wilting away,” he added.

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Dhakane, who had also ordered 300 silk larvae for about Rs 20,000 in the hope of raising profits worth Rs 150,000 if it rained timely, is now staring at losses.

“I rear silkworms for mulberry silk. The larvae feed on mulberry plant’s leaves but this oppressive heat is drying the leaves of mulberry and the worms are now dying of hunger. It’s as if nature just doesn’t want any crop to do well this year. It’s frustrating,” the farmer bemoaned.

“I cannot even water the plants from the well or the pond because the pond has dried up and the tubewell only runs for 30 minutes a day as the electricity is available only for this much duration,” he added.

Looming water crisis

As per a report issued by the divisional commissioner of the Vaijapur tehsil in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar district, 547 villages and 1,404 hamlets are being supplied with 426 water tankers,as they have completely run out of water from local sources such as ponds and dugwells.