Pune: Rangnath Bhise (45), a farmer from Londewadi in Jalna, might soon have to uproot the soybean crop he painstakingly sowed across three acres. A prolonged dry spell in Aug has left his plants withered.
He said some districts in Marathwada and Vidarbha had recorded rainfall deficits of more than 80% in Aug, underlining the severity of the situation. In 2015, we received rainfall in June and even some cities were flooded, but the rest of the season was dry. Because of moisture present in the soil, but now it will not sustain, the crop could survive so far. “Prolonged moisture stress can therefore have a direct impact on both the yield and the grain quality.
Officials from the state agriculture department said the prolonged absence of rainfall had severely affected soybean crops across Maharashtra and a detailed assessment was under way. Nagpur agriculture activist Vijay Jawandhia said the situation in Vidarbha has become increasingly critical with rising temperatures after the brief spell of cloudy weather. In some districts in Vidarbha, even rainfall may not be enough to save the crop,” he said. The present period is crucial for soybeans as pods develop and seeds fill during this stage, said soybean expert Milind Deshmukh. Met department officials said rainfall remained deficient across Maharashtra. “There is a possibility of light rainfall in the second week of Sept,” Sanap said. This year again, we had good rainfall in July, but Aug was dry and the prediction is not favourable for Sept either,” Sanap said.
“There were cloudy conditions in some districts last week, but they disappeared over the past two days. We did not receive rainfall in Aug. We desperately need rainfall. IMD (India Meteorological Department) scientist SD Sanap attributed the unusual rainfall pattern to the El Nino effect. “An El Nino year has been like this.