One third of Maharashtra’s cultivated area damaged due to unseasonal rainfall

Unseasonal
rainfall across central India has damaged one-third of Maharashtra’s cultivated
land, sending onion prices up by 25% over four days after stagnant water
damaged crops and made harvests impossible.

The constant
downpour in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and parts of Telangana since October
caused widespread damage to crops including soyabean, cotton, paddy, maize,
jowar, bajra and ragi and high-value horticulture crops such as grapes,
pomegranates and vegetables.

A high-level
official of the relief and rehabilitation department of the Maharashtra state
government said, “According to our preliminary estimates, the unseasonal
rainfall has damaged crops on 54.22 lakh hectares, which is one-third of the
total cultivated area of the state.”

“Damage is
very high in case of crops like soyabean, paddy and cotton”he added.

The state
government has announced assistance of Rs 10,000 crore for farmers affected by
the calamity, he said.

Onion prices
jumped to Rs 49/kg on November 2 at the Lasalgaon market from Rs 39/kg on
October 30 as continuous rainfall delayed the harvest of fresh kharif crops.