In the nearby Mograle village, Aba Mahadev Shingade is desperate. “Marata yet nahi, manoon jagachachi (Don’t know how to die, therefore we live),” he said, looking at his 10 hectares that he has been farming for the last 40 years. “We have nothing left to do. Drinking water arrives in tankers once in five days, a bath these days is a dream, water for farming an impossibility. If the rains do not come in a week, there is no hope for the next crop as well.”

A wait is on for July 31, when a decision is expected to be taken on declaring a drought. It is only after this that ‘chavni’ or fodder camps will materialise.

“A fortnight ago, my Jersey cow gave birth to a calf. I cannot afford the extra fodder to feed her as well her mother. The calf consumes 2 litres of milk every day, which sets me back by Rs 20. Soon, I will pack her off to the butcher,” said Jagdale K V, owner of 10 acres, with tears in his eyes.

For a month now, at least one vehicle has been leaving the tehsil every day carrying cattle for the butchers. “The cooperatives buy sugarcane from the farmers at Rs 600 a quintal. The same sugarcane costs the farmers Rs 2,000 a quintal when bought as fodder and it lasts a fortnight. Everybody wants to sell their cattle, but there are no buyers other than the butchers. Almost everyone is getting rid of the calves and the older cattle,” he said.

... contd.