Heavy rains damage crops on 14.44 lakh hectares in 29 Maharashtra districts: Minister Bharane

Heavy rains in the past few days have damaged crops on 14.44 lakh hectares of land in 29 districts of Maharashtra. state agriculture minister Dattatray Bharane said on Friday.

The maximum damage was reported between August 15 and 20, when the monsoon was highly active, he said.

Excess rainfall hit 191 talukas, causing damage to Kharif crops in 654 revenue circles, with 12 districts seeing crops damaged on more than 10,000 hectares of land.

The worst-hit districts include Nanded (6.20 lakh hectares), Washim (1.64 lakh ha), Yavatmal (1.64 lakh ha), Dharashiv (1.50 lakh ha), Buldhana (89,782 ha), Solapur (47,266 ha), Akola (43,828 ha) and Hingoli (40,000 ha), officials said.

The affected crops are soyabean, cotton, maize, urad, tur and moong, as well as vegetables, fruits, bajra, sugarcane, onion, jowar and turmeric, they added.

''Crop-loss assessment (panchnama) work is in its final stage and farmers will be provided immediate relief. Not a single farmer will be left out. The government stands firmly behind the farming community. The exercise is being carried out under the directions of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CMs Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar,'' Bharane said.

The affected districts are Nanded, Washim, Yavatmal, Buldhana, Akola, Solapur, Hingoli, Dharashiv, Parbhani, Amravati, Jalgaon, Wardha, Sangli, Ahmednagar, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Jalna, Beed, Latur, Dhule, Ratnagiri, Chandrapur, Satara, Nashik, Kolhapur, Sindhudurg, Gadchiroli, Raigad and Nagpur, officials said.

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