Maharashtra’s drought crisis has intensified across Beed and Dharashiv, with crop losses, drinking-water shortages and shrinking fodder supplies leaving farmers under severe financial pressure, a central inter-ministerial team found during a field inspection on Saturday. The team said it would verify the ground situation and submit an objective report to the Union government.
In Beed, kharif crops across 742,163 hectares have been affected, impacting about 822,360 farmers in 1,353 villages, according to the district administration. At Vaidyakinhi in Patoda taluka, residents told the team that no rain had fallen for 65 days. Soybean crops had failed, while drinking water and fodder for livestock had become critical. In some locations, residents were reportedly bringing water from distances of about 40 kilometres.
The team inspected soybean fields belonging to farmer Devidas Bhanddas and visited water infrastructure, including a percolation tank, wells and Khandala lake at Moragaon in Beed taluka. Local representatives said work under the Jal Jeevan Mission and a water-supply scheme had remained pending for four to five years. Farmers also reported that soybean crops had suffered damage of 80% to 90% in some fields because of excessive rainfall earlier in the season, while other fields were affected by the prolonged dry spell.
Agricultural officials told the team that soybean production in Moragaon, normally expected to reach seven to eight quintals per acre, could fall to about 50 kilograms this year in some fields. Around 70% of farmers in the village were reported to have suffered crop damage exceeding 33%. In Dashkhed, farmers said output had fallen from about 30 bags of soybean last year to an estimated 40 kilograms from 1.5 to two acres this season.
District data presented to the team showed that Beed received 356 millimetres of rain between June and September, against an annual average of 566.1 millimetres. The district received 62.89% of its average rainfall, with August recording 18.4% of the average and September 41.6%. Preliminary crop-cutting experiments placed soybean production at 410 kilograms per hectare this year, compared with a five-year average of 1,534.2 kilograms per hectare. By October 8, 957 of the district’s 3,132 planned crop-cutting experiments had been completed, including 310 of 576 planned soybean experiments.
Fodder availability was estimated to cover only 47 days of current requirements across Beed. Supplies in Shirur Kasar were expected to last eight days, while Gevrai and Ashti had supplies for about 19.6 and 22.4 days respectively. Farmers requested a Rs 50,000 subsidy for farm ponds and assistance of Rs 2 lakh per hectare for orchards.
In Dharashiv, farmers reported that the drought had followed two successive years of crop damage caused by excessive rainfall. At Hadongri in Bhoom taluka, farmer Sudhir Kshirsagar said the cost of sowing would not be recovered, there was no money to harvest soybean and fodder was unavailable for his ten cattle. At Khanapur in Vashi taluka, farmers described the expense of maintaining grape orchards amid severe water shortages. Some villages reportedly had fodder for only about a month.
The central team included officials from the Union agriculture and farmers’ welfare department, NITI Aayog and the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying. Team leader Muktanand Agrawal directed officials to complete pending crop-cutting experiments before Diwali, verify technical data against ground conditions and plan supplies of drinking water, livestock fodder and employment. The team’s report and the completion of crop assessments will determine the basis for further relief measures.
