26 killed in two weeks, more than 13,000 Buildings Destroyed

Neha Madaan & Nikhil Deshmukh report from Pune / Kolhapur that the unseasonal rains have damaged crops over 13.7 lakh hectares in the first half of March, 2014 and claimed 26 lives, as estimated by the state departments of agriculture and relief and rehabilitation. Of the 28 districts in Maharashtra where farmlands have been ravaged in the rain, Nagpur's loss is the highest, with crop destruction over 1.38 lakh hectares.



The State agriculture department has reported these crop losses from 14,837 villages of 221 blocks or talukas in the 28 affected districts. Of the total 13.7 lakh hectares of crops destroyed, 12.71 lakh hectares were of field crops and 98,473 hectares of fruit crops.



Apart from wheat and red gram, onion, maize, vegetables, rabi jowar crops too have been damaged. Other kharif crops that have been destroyed include pulses and minor crops. Among fruit crops, oranges have been affected the most in this list, followed by grapes, pomegranate, banana, papaya and other fruit crops such as strawberry, guava, mangoes among others.



Natural disasters have become the order of the day for quite some time now. It is for the administration to anticipate in advance such calamities and provide for contingent plan to mitigate the farmers’ woes and problems without any delay.
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