Awasrao Powal, a 90-year-old, has seen many droughts rumble through Maharashtra’s Beed district. He vividly remembers the 1972 drought when farmers did not even sow seeds. “We had no food, but we still had water,” he recalled.
This year’s drought, he says, is worse. Most water sources have dried up in his village, Chumbali. “There is no money,” Powal said. “There is no work.”
Over two-thirds of Maharashtra – 304 out of 358 tehsils – have been declared drought-hit after the state recorded an 18% deficit in monsoon rains. In Beed, the deficit went up to 37%, making it the worst in a decade.
The drought is hurting farmers in every possible way.
Mustafa Khan’s cotton crop usually grows up to four feet to six feet, with 70 to 80 cotton pods. This year, the lack of rain has stunted it, reducing the number of cotton pods to less than 10.
“The crop has not matured,” he said. “The harvest is also not enough to feed my cattle.”
Khan has 12 cows, buffaloes and bulls. He said he has been buying fodder from the market, but prices have risen from Rs 10 per bundle to Rs 20 in the last two months.
“Milk production has reduced because I am giving the cattle less...