Unseasonal rains, hailstorm damage grape, onion, mango crops in Maharashtra

PUNE: Unseasonal rains and hailstorms that hit many parts of the state on Thursday evening damaged rabi crops like grape, onion, mango and sorghum (jowar)

PUNE: Unseasonal rains and hailstorms that hit many parts of the state on Thursday evening damaged rabi crops like grape, onion, mango and sorghum (jowar). Cloudy weather was seen at some places in the state on Friday.

HT Image

Dada Bhuse, Maharashtra agriculture minister, said, “I visited some areas in Nashik district where onion, grape and pomegranate crops were damaged. Only after survey by the department will the exact estimation of damage be known.”

Bhuse said, “I have instructed the agricultural department to carry out “panchnamas” (inspection reports) of damaged crops and submit a report to be placed before the cabinet and seek compensation for farmers.”

Many districts like Pune, Nashik, Satara, Kolhapur, Solapur and some parts of Konkan saw unseasonal rains on Thursday.

Shankar Bhamre, a farmer from Nashik district, said, “My grape vineyard ready for plucking was damaged by the unexpected hailstorm.”

Vilas Jagtap, who has farmland in Alephata area, said, “Our standing crops were damaged by unseasonal rains. Last year also our crops were destroyed by heavy rains.”

Sanjay Chavan from Nashik district said, “I lost my onion crop to heavy rains.”

Suresh Patil from Maval said, “The hailstorm has affected the flowering season of the mango crop.” s