A sense of imminent calamity envelops farmers in Deolali village in Maharashtra’s Osmanabad district. After having borne drought for consecutive years, they now face the ravages of unseasonal rain.
While 2012 and 2013 were bad-rainfall years, recent showers in the rain-shadow Marathwada region have extensively ruined acres of soybean crop across the district with its farmers struggling to keep the wolf from the door. wreak
The irregular bouts of rain, coupled with a flash hailstorm in March that wreaked havoc on Osmanabad’s horticulture and agriculture, has driven Deolali’s 700-odd families to a perilous hand-to-mouth existence.
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“A 10 quintal-bag of soybean (approx 30 kg) yields an average Rs. 2500- Rs. 2700. But this time, we expect less than half the market price owing to the poor quality of corn, made wet by rainwater,” says Prithviraj Tambe, whose better part of his 16 acre-farmland was hit by unseasonal rain, which destroyed his cotton, jowar and fruit crops.
“The paltry revenue I earn from the damaged soybean crop will have to see off my family till the next kharif season,” he says stoically.
However, those not so stoic, like 55-year-old Madhukar Tambe, caved in and committed suicide on his farm. “He was found hanging from a tree near his field last week. “He had borrowed heavily from his friends,” said Anand Tambe, Madhukar’s nephew.“The burden of guilt weighed heavily on my father. He was ashamed,” remarks his eldest son, Neminath, in a poignant tone.
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Less than a fortnight earlier, Dadasaheb Bharati, another farmer committed suicide in the village of Tandulwadi in the district’s Paranada taluk, allegedly stunned by the loss of his soybean and mango crop.
In March, after the devastating hailstorm attack ruined crops on his 12-acre farm, Rajendra Lomte of Deolali attempted to immolate himself in a fit of despair, sustaining 70 per cent burns in the process.
According to official figures, more than 200 farmers have taken their lives in Marathwada in the last six months. A majority of them, reeling under the onslaught of elemental forces, saddled with heavy debts, have taken the extreme step. Osmanabad district accounts for more than 30 deaths during this period.
“Every farmer, big or small, owes some debt to the local moneylender. With the rain gods playing truant and then descending on us in an unwelcome fashion, there is no other alternative,” says Yuvraj Tambe.
Most farmers in the village steer clear of the decrepit Osmanabad District Cooperative Bank, headed by the shadowy former NCP MP, Padamsinh Patil.
While recent showers have solved the drinking water problem to an extent, the main water source for the district, the Sina-Kolegaon dam, continues to be nearly empty in a region suffering a 42 per cent rainfall deficit.
“After experiencing two crushing seasons of drought, we thought the showers in August would see the Rabi crop through this year. When the rains returned in October, we knew our hope was a fragile seed,” says Phulchand Tambe, whose two-acre soybean crop was ruined by the unseasonal rain.