Heavy rains damage crops on nearly 70 lakh acres in Maharashtra

Mumbai, Sep 23 (PTI) Heavy rainfall in parts of Maharashtra between August and September this year has damaged crops spread over nearly 70 lakh acres in the state, affecting farmers in 30 districts, preliminary estimates of crop losses conducted by the state agriculture department showed.

A total of 195 tehsils and 654 revenue circles reported crop losses during the two months - from August 1 to September 22 - of heavy rains, an agriculture department official said.

Crops on 69.95 lakh acres were damaged, he said.

"Nanded, Beed, Solapur, Yavatmal and Buldhana are some of the worst affected districts," the official said.

The extent of damage is severe in Nanded, where crops on over 18.20 lakh acres were hit, followed by 9.95 lakh acres in Solapur, 8.56 lakh acres in Yavatmal and 8.29 lakh acres in Dharashiv.

Eight districts - Nanded, Solapur, Yavatmal, Dharashiv, Beed, Ahilyanagar, Washim, Buldhana, Jalna, Hingoli, Akola and Amravati - have each recorded crop losses on more than one lakh acres, according to him.

At least 15 districts reported crop damage of more than 10,000 hectares each. The official said the affected crops include soybean, maize, cotton, urad, tur (pigeon pea) and moong.

In September alone, losses were reported on 30.85 lakh acres in the state. "Beed district has suffered damage on around 5.94 lakh acres, followed by 4.21 lakh acres in Ahilyanagar," the official said.

The department is expected to undertake further assessment in the coming weeks to determine the final extent of the damage and the assistance required for affected farmers. PTI ND NP