Orders are pouring in, but Sambhaji Desai, CEO of Patgaon Honey, feels he would not be able to service all the orders this year. Based out of the small village of Patgaon in Bhudargad taluka of Kolhapur district, Patgaon Honey in the last few years has become a hit with consumers thanks to the completely organic and natural processes deployed for collection and processing. But Desai and his fellow honey producers have a new challenge – a dip in production. “Ours is a completely forest-based product. We put our honeybee boxes inside the forests and the bees collect honey from the forest trees. If the trees don’t flower, we would not have honey for our customers,” Desai said. Normally, the honey production season starts in January and finishes in May when trees like jamun, wild guava, and creepers like sonwel start flowering. “But this year, wild guava did not flower with buds dropping off due to heat in February. Also, the flowering of jamun is noticeably less. Overall, this is going to be a bad year for us. Last year, we were able to harvest 10 tonnes of honey, but this year I wonder if we would be able to get even 5 tonnes,” he said. But this is not the first year that Desai has faced this problem. In fact, the problem has started since 2010 and it has just aggravated over the years. “It’s like clockwork - one or the other thing goes wrong every year. If this continues, the fate of Patgaon Honey will be up in the air,” he said. Desai is not the only one who has a complaint about climate change. Pomegranate growers in Solapur district are also victims of the same. Vishal Misal used to grow pomegranate over five acres of his holding in the village of Chamke in Sangola taluka of the district, but not anymore. “Four years back, I uprooted my entire pomegranate orchard as unseasonal rains had increased the attack of fungal diseases which ultimately led to significant drop in yields,” Misal said. He is not alone. Maharashtra had 1.81 lakh hectares of pomegranate orchards prior to 2020 but now the area is just around 1.31 hectares. “Solapur was best suited for pomegranates due to its light sandy soil and low rainfall. But now the tables have turned. Solapur gets more rainfall than Pune at times. Increased moisture has dealt a death knell to our crops,” he said. Solapur historically receives around 350 mm of rainfall during the June-September monsoon season. But the district has been reporting nearly 500 mm of rainfall during the monsoon in recent years. The issue of climate change and its impact on the farming community, however, is nowhere in the conversations as the campaign for general elections begins. It does not figure into the speeches of any political leaders. “Talk to any farmer, they would agree that their incomes have been uncertain over the years. They know it is due to the change in the weather pattern. But it does not feature high on the list of issues which make it to the political dialogue,” said Misal, who has a graduate degree in agriculture. “Our farmers have not connected the dots enough to make it an issue. After all, elections are mostly fought on emotive issues rather than economics,” he said. Be it the honey collectors from Kolhapur or the banana growers from Jalgaon or the mango growers in Konkan, climate change has affected every field and almost every farmer in Maharashtra. The state has just around 20 per cent of its farmlands under irrigation and thus the majority of the farmers are dependent on the monsoon. As the monsoon becomes more and more erratic, the effect is felt by the majority of the farmers. However, it hardly has any resonance in the political discourse. Former additional chief secretary of the state Nanasaheb Patil has an answer to this. “There is lack of awareness amongst the farmers as well and the political leadership cleverly keeps a distance from this explosive topic. If they start talking about this, they know the effect can be catastrophic,” he said. Across the globe, climate change and agriculture are topics which very few people want to address. Recently, French farmers had taken to the streets to protest against the government’s measure to address climate change. US farmers have also protested against the moves. In fact, Patil pointed to the failure of the talks in the 28th United Nations Conference about Climate Change in Dubai over the topic. Back at home, the closest farmers get to addressing climate change is by ensuring their crops are insured under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana, which allows them a cushion against losses. Ankush Chormule, CEO of Sangli-based Ganna Master-a farm input company- said the political class has already taken farmers for granted, hence no one is talking about climate change, which is an issue with very few solutions in sight.
