Washing away of top soil due to heavy Marathwada rains may affect agri yield by 50 pc: Expert

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Oct 16 (PTI) Crop yield could be hit by as much as 50 per cent in areas in Maharashtra's Marathwada where the top soil was washed away due to heavy rains and floods last month, an agriculture expert said on Thursday.

The heavy rains washed off the soil layer of at least 15 centimetres, Dr Harihar Kausadikar, head of Soil Science department of Vasantrao Naik Agriculture University in Parbhani, told PTI.

"This is the most productive and fertile part of soil but dissociates when it rains heavily. The productivity of the area where the soil layer has been washed off will decrease by almost 50 per cent. The current soil layer will not give expected yield this year. This loss cannot be restored in a short span of time and without human intervention," he said.

"The soil is left without organic carbon. It will take around 2-3 years for the soil to come into its original form. Moreover, farmers cannot bring silt to restore land as the water bodies are full of water. They have to keep adding materials like fly ash, biogas slurry, green manure in the soil they have now," he added.

A government official said surveys are still underway in the region and no final figure has been arrived at with regards to such losses. PTI AW BNM