Ramkrishna Patil Khute from Pota village in Buldhana district in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra has over 65 acres of farmland, which he cultivates along with his two brothers. In a State where the average farmland holding is less than five acres, Khute holds 13 times more land. In spite of his landholding, the 50-year-year cotton farmer is depressed about crops on his farm as rains were inadequate in the last two years in Vidarbha.

The Vidarbha region occupies the whole of eastern Maharashtra and is divided into 11 districts.

For the last 20 years, the region is in news due to recurring droughts and farmer suicides. In 2018, rains were sub-normal until early June in Vidarbha, but on June 6 and 7, Nagpur city and the surrounding region saw 265 MM of rainfall. After that, for about a week, many areas of Vidarbha reported very heavy rainfall. It rained as if it was the beginning of the apocalypse, but soon it petered out and the region faced prolong dry spells.

The Maharashtra Government has already declared a drought-like situation in 180 tehsils out the 353 in the State. In Vidarbha, about 70 per cent of tehsils have been identified as drought- affected.

The State has over 3,200 large, medium and small dams. As on April 13, the live water storage capacity has reached 25 per cent of the total storage capacity. Last year, this number was better at 39 per cent.

The total designed water storage capacity in a dam is grouped under live storage and dead storage. The water which can be discharged out and used for irrigation, drinking and other uses is live storage. Dead storage water cannot be let out of the dam. It is way below the discharge outlet.

Across the State, about 3,950 tankers have already been deployed. But fortunately, Vidarbha has better drinking water position than last year. Currently, about 1,500 tankers have been providing drinking water to 1,890 villages and hamlets. Last year, over 2,000 tankers were deployed. Khute said water-intensive crops such as cotton and soyabean are still being cultivated in Vidarbha as there is no alternative crop. A large number of agriculture scientists at the Punjabrao Agriculture University in Akola has many doctorate scholars in agriculture and the library overflowing with PhD theses. But they have not developed alternative, low water-intensive crops, he said.

People only cultivate cotton and soyabean as they used to get better money in the past. But today the average cultivation cost of one-acre cotton field, which produces about five quintals of cotton is ₹32,500, but the current market rate is of ₹5,000 to ₹5,500 per quintal of cotton . In effect, the farmer makes about ₹25.000 per acre and suffers a loss of about ₹7,000 per acre.Still he has no alternative. “Cotton is one crop, which gives hope to the farmer as it flowers multiple times, which leads to multiple plucking of the cotton bowl,” Khute said.

Farmer Rajesh Rajput from Akola town said that in certain dark zones in Akola and Buldhana the groundwater table has reached almost 1,000 feet. This water can only be reached by drilling a very deep borewell. Today this terrible situation has been reached because of the over-exploitation of groundwater and failed monsoon.

He pointed that on one hand the State Government says that water below 210 feet is unfit for human consumption and on the other hand the District Collector has taken over many private bore wells, which are over 500 feet deep. The water from these wells is pumped out and filled in water tankers, he said.

He said that Akola city still does not require water by rail tankers but given the erratic supply, the situation could soon arise.

This is the sixth part in the Drought series. The previous report appeared on April 12

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