Excess rains wash away almost 34,000 hectares of agricultural land in Gujarat

RAJKOT: Around a month back the farmers were staring at crop failure due to lack of rain. But last week’s excessive downpour proved to be a double whammy for them. Not only standing crops but also agricultural land was washed away in Jamnagar district and parts of Rajkot district.
Apart from counting this season’s crop loss, the farmers are also worried over the hardships they will face over the next two-three years.“We have lost this season’s crop. But our major worry is to make the land suitable for farming again. Farmers will have to flatten the agricultural land and lay new soil. It will be a few years before most of us can take a new crop,” Pal Ambaliya, president of Kisan congress said.
Official figures state that an estimated 34,000 hectares of agricultural land was washed away in the two districts. And the counting is not over yet.
“According to a tentative estimate 31,000 hectares of agricultural land got damaged. The rain hasn’t subsided yet and the farmland is still waterlogged so our teams are facing difficulty in the survey. Around 100 teams are doing the survey of losses suffered,” P S Zamsingh, Jamnagar district collector, said.
According to Rajkot district administration around 4,398 hectares of agricultural land in Lodhika taluka was damaged by rain. Lodika received a rainfall of around 650mm in two days.
Chintan Kangad, a farmer of Upleta taluka, saw rain wash away standing groundnut crop from his 15 bigha land in Nilakha village. “In Upleta and Bhayavadar taluka there are three rivers — Moj, Venu and Bhadar — and all are overflowing. The farmers in Upleta and Bhayavadar, who had sown groundnut, cotton and tur (pigeon peas), have suffered huge losses,” Kangad said.
Payal Kantariya, a farmer of Jamnagar district, said that except Lalpur and Jamjodhpur talukas, agricultural land in other parts of the district were damaged by the excessive rain. “In other talukas including Kalavad, Dhrol, Jodiya agricultural land got washed away. In many villages entire plants of groundnut are uprooted and farmers will now have to lay new soil to make the land fertile again.”
According to sources, 15-20% of cotton crop was damaged in Gondal, Babra, Aatkot, Kalavad and Dhrol talukas.
Oil millers see silver lining amidst the gloom
The excessive rains have caused widespread damage and farmers are crying over crop loss, but oil millers are seeing a silver lining amidst the gloom. Kishor Viradia, president of Saurashtra Oil Mills Association (SOMA) said, “Till last month we were expecting only 30% crop this season because of the prevailing drought-like situation. Jamnagar and Porbandar are the biggest producers of groundnut and after the rains we are expecting around 60 to 70% crop this season.” Groundnut is cultivated in Gir Somnath, Junagadh, Amreli, Surendrangar, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Devbhumi Dewarka and Bhavnagar districts. Gujarat’s average groundnut production is around 32 lakh ton.
Damage to govt infrastructure pegged at Rs 96 crore
According to an estimate of the Rajkot district administration, government infrastructure worth Rs 96 crore was damaged due to the heavy rains. “As per primary estimate 14 main roads, 138 minor roads, 117 electricity poles, 14 feeders and check dams were damaged. The total damage is to the tune of Rs 96 crore,” Arun Mahesh Babu, Rajkot district collector, said.