The delayed and weak monsoon hasn’t ushered in much hope. Ranjani Raghavan visits Sangmaner in Nashik and Sinnar in Ahmednagar only to find out that the farmers there are set to lose more than half of their crop yield

Sangamner and Sinnar in Nashik and Ahmednagar districts respectively are among the talukas that received the lowest rainfall till August 20. Over the next week, however, a fair amount of rain has made the countryside look refreshingly green.

But agriculture officers of both talukas quickly remind you that looks can be deceptive. And that more than half of the crop yield here is going to be lost. “It looks green, yes. But the yield will be poor,” said Rajaram Gaikwad, agriculture officer, Sangamner — the taluka of state agriculture minister Balasaheb Thorat. With 171 villages, Sangamner is also the biggest taluka in the district.

On his five-acre farm, Noor Mohammed Pathan of Karule village grows bajra and onions. By now, he said, the bajra crop should have grown up to his height. It has stopped at barely half a foot. “The tillering has been poor. Instead of four, most plants have sprouted just one shoot; the grain size is small too. The height of the crop is irregular,” Pathan said.

Bajra is the chief kharif crop in Sangamner and is sown in 40,500 hectares, followed by maize in 7,800 hectares. There are some small pockets of moong and udid as well.

“For a month, we did not receive any rain; farmers had given up all hopes of a good yield. Rainfall in the last three days have given them some relief, but they will still lose around 50 per cent of the yield. Some crop can be saved only if it rains continuously for a week or 10 days. Otherwise, the losses will be extensive,” agriculture officer Gaikwad said.

... contd.