Marathwada cotton farmers invested Rs 25,000, it is now difficult to get back even Rs 5,000

Rural Connection team had spent several days in November in Marathwada’s Osmanabad, Latur and Nanded districts. The unseasonal rain in October-November has ruined the crops ready for the harvest

Loha (Nanded) Maharashtra

The rains occurring from September to October have ruined the crops in many states of the country, including Maharashtra. The Marathwada region was suffering from a dry spell for the past three years, it had rained sparsely even during June-July in 2019, but then in September-October, it rained very heavily thereby ruining the crops ready for the harvest.

Due to post monsoons, it even rained till November beginning and adversely affected the ready kharif crops of soybean, bajra, jowar and cotton. While the crops of jowar, bajra and soybean mainly rotted away in the fields those that were harvested and had to be threshed had begun sprouting. Due to the failed crops in several regions, incidents of farmer suicides are on a constant rise.

Rural Connection team had spent several days in the month of November in Marathwada’s Osmanabad, Latur and Nanded districts, among the farmers who shared with it the plight of their crops.

Sheikh Samdani, a farmer, said: “Cotton crop flowers several times and the farmers pick them when they ripe. But this time, it had just begun to flower when the heavy rains destroyed the plants. So, the plant which yielded up to 500-700 grams cotton is unable to give out even 50 gram. Let alone profit, we may not be even able to recover our costs.”

Samdani’s neighbor Hussein Sheikh said: “An acre yields about 8-10 quintals of cotton. If we get the rate of Rs 4,500-5,000, we earn about Rs 45,000 out of which if we keep aside Rs 20,000-25,000 towards input costs, we save about Rs 20,000 per acre, but this time, it would be difficult to even get one quintal per acre.”

He added: “Crop insurance was done. Tehsil office was also notified, but no one had come to inspect even after 8-10 days whereas the insurance companies have stipulated that the inspection must be carried out within 24 hours of the loss. Despite repeated reminders from the farmers, no officer is coming to visit us.”

Savitra, also a farmer, had four acres of land out of which she had cultivated cotton in three acres. However, more than 90% of her crop stands damaged. Savitra said: “Now for the entire year, my fields will go uncultivated because we do not have wells or water for irrigation. We, in Nanded, suffer an acute shortage of water as it is. Had there been irrigation facility, we’d have sown another crop, but now only by June next year would we be able to do that.” Savitra and her family will now have to go to work in the sugarcane fields of other regions in Maharashtra in order to support themselves.

Due to crop failure, Marathwada’s eight districts continue to report incidents of farmer suicides. Between October 14 and November 11, 68 farmers in Marathwada had ended their lives. As per an article published in Lokmat, most of the cases (16) have been reported from Beedh while in Nanded 12, Aurangabad 9, Paranbhi 11, Hingoli 4, Latur 7 and in Osmanbad 3 farmers have committed suicide. During the last ten months of 2019, 746 cases of farmer suicides have been reported. The Shiv Sena has attacked the central government on the issue of farmer suicides. The party’s periodical Saamna has cautioned the government against farmer’s woes and demanded speedier relief. Marathwada farmers find it hard to cope with the simultaneous onslaught of drought and incessant rains and are therefore, resorting to extreme measures such as suicide.

Rural Connection team had visited the homes of the deceased farmers of Latur and Nanded. Due to crop failure, these farmers face the challenge of existence and survival. As per the report of the Maharashtra government, the incessant rains have spoiled 41 lakh hectares of kharif crop in Marathwada region, including soyabean, cotton, jowar, bajra, urad, corn and in certain place even arhar.