Maharashtra: Hailstorm, unseasonal rainfall damage 1.25 lakh hectares of crops

MUMBAI: Crops on nearly 1.25 lakh hectares in 1086 villages across 11 districts have been damaged due to hailstorm and unseasonal rainfall since the last two days in Marathwada and Vidarbha region of the state.
The preliminary estimate of damage was released by the state government on Monday and the state agriculture minister Pandurang Fundkar said that relief will be extended to all the affected farmers and the process to calculate the financial losses has begun.
Fundkar said that the worst hit districts were Buldhana, Amravati and Jalna.
The affected 11 districts are Beed, Jalna, Parbhani, Jalgaon, Buldhana, Amravati, Akola, Washim, Latur, Osmanabad, Hingoli.
Crops on nearly 11,000 hectares of 42 villages of Beed district has suffered due to the rains, and the crops affected were mainly Rabi Jowar, Green gram, fruits and vegetables. Meanwhile the worst affected Jalna district, crops on 32,000 hectares have been damaged in 175 villages.
Similarly in Buldhana district, 32,700 hectares of area spreading across 286 villages have been affected.
“This is the preliminary report and the losses are likely to go up after the final survey report will be submitted in the next 3 days,” said an official.