Crop loss: Over 8.15L intimations to agri insurance firms

Till date, Maharashtra has received 1009 mm of rain, which is 17 per cent excess of the 859.5 mm of rain it normally receives. Most of Marathwada and Vidarbha have reported excess rain with areas in North Maharashtra and Western Maharashtra reporting such heavy showers periodically.

Given the heavy rains, water-logging has been reported in many parts of the state which has caused crop damage. This Kharif, farmers in the state have tilted heavily on commercial crops like soyabean and cotton and given pulses a miss. Overall, the state had reported 146.95 lakh hectares of kharif sowing with soyabean (48.76 lakh hectares) and cotton (42.21 lakh hectares) seen most sowing. Till August end, farmers had reported good vegetative growth and were hoping for good harvest. Heavy rains have seen many areas being water-logged and the state agriculture department had put in place a mechanism for accepting reports about crop loss both online and offline.

Till September 5, insurance companies have reported 8.15 lakh intimations of crop loss with Osmanabad, Washim, Yavatmala and Jalna Aurangabad reporting most losses. Of the 8.15 lakh intimations received, ground survey of 5.78 lakh is over and the remaining would be finished soon. The intimations this year are fewer than last year when more than half of the state had reported crop damage due to heavy rains in September-October.

Based on their satellite-based crop map, Roli Jindal, RMSI Cropalytics talked about loss to soyabean crop due to erratic rainfall in July and August. Hoshangabad, Sehore, Shajapur, Betul, Bhopal, Harda, Dewas and Raisen districts in Madhya Pradesh and Nashik, Nanded, Chandrapur, Yavatmal, Nagpur and Wardha in Maharashtra have been hit by heavy rains. Cotton, on the other hand, has not seen much loss, given the long duration the crop stays on the field.