In parched Maharashtra, farmers forced to sell thirsty animals. Water tankers come only for humans

Cattle shelters have in the past been set up for assistance to farmers to house their animals in drought conditions. In 2018-19, the camps were set up in January. The demand for shelters this year from September may be the earliest in several years.

Latur resident Sangeeta Gaikwad is on her second trip to the weekly market on Thursday at Ausa. She has travelled with her two goats, wanting to sell them as it is proving difficult to feed them and provide them water. Gaikwad has no land and she works at a farm in Ausa. So far, she has been using the water at the farm from a borewell but as that has begun drying up too, Gaikwad says that she decided to sell two of her four goats.

“I had bought these two goats for around Rs 14,000 each a few months ago and I am not even getting Rs 11,000 for them. I returned without selling them at a low price last week but I am here again as it is very difficult to find water for them,” Gaikwad says. She has been at the market since 7am and will wait in the open ground in scorching heat till at least 11 am to see if she gets a good price. Gaikwad works on a farm where soyabean and cotton are grown but it had dried up due to no rainfall.

The Ausa weekly market, like many across the state’s drought-hit regions, is witnessing farmers with small landholdings trying to sell their cattle and landless ones selling their goats in distress sales due to water scarcity.

At the same market, Suresh Kadam has brought his two bullocks, Sarjan and Rajan. Unwilling to sell the four-year-old bulls used for ploughing, Kadam says that he has eight more at home. “For all my cattle, I need about 1,000 litres a day—one overhead tank. Where do I get that from in such scarcity? I had sown soyabean on my five-acre field but the output has been zero. The soyabean flattened in the heat,” he said.

Kadam said that there is a tanker that provides water to his village, Shelu, in Latur, every 2-3 days but that is only enough for personal household use. Farmers said that weekly markets held in other parts of Latur, Beed and Dharashiv are also witnessing livestock sales due to water issues.

Tankers are being provided across the Marathwada region, with the government providing 295 to 157 villages as of Wednesday. Many are also paying out of their pockets for tankers, from Rs 800 to Rs 1,500 for one.

According to the 21st Livestock Census conducted in 2024, the livestock population in Marathwada is over 53.59 lakh and the total daily fodder required is over 24,000 metric tonnes. Officials from the divisional administration said that the fodder stock in the state will last around 130 days.

“As of today, there is no need for fodder camps in the division. Currently, the available fodder across districts is sufficient for roughly 76 to 179 days. Fodder scarcity may rise in the region from December. However, if Rabi crops are successfully sown, the looming fodder scarcity in the districts can be pushed back or averted,” said an official from the regional animal husbandry department. Water for the animals, however, has no separate announcement from the government so far.

Farmers said that while panchnamas to determine the loss to crops began last week, there has been no outreach on the animals. Local administrative officials said that the panchnama involves determining the area under farming, the percentage of damage and losses caused. Since each panchnama takes at least an hour, officials estimate completion in two weeks, after which further relief announcements are likely.