He sought a comprehensive relief package for farmers and the rural population. Former Union minister Sharad Pawar on Friday cited deficient rainfall and asked the Maharashtra government to declare a drought due to the El Niño effect, which is primarily associated with a weak monsoon and below-normal rain in India.
Pawar said inadequate rainfall had damaged soybean, cotton, bajra, maize, tur, moong and urad crops in 31 of the 36 districts. He added that pest and disease attacks had also increased. Pawar warned the situation could further aggravate problems related to drinking water and fodder. He added that tanker arrangements should also be made to protect orchards.
“Special schemes should be implemented through the Employment Guarantee Scheme in drought-like areas, including agriculture and water-conservation works,” Pawar said.
Pawar cited the uneven rainfall deficit and data to underline the severity of the situation. Pawar referred to data showing the rainfall shortfall coincided with a contraction in the area under sowing in some regions. Affected areas included six of eight districts in the drought-prone Marathwada region, and four out of five districts in the Amaravati division, a farmer suicide-prone area.
He said Marathwada recorded a 69% rain shortfall from June to August. Pawar added the deficit was 61% in Vidarbha and 33% in Konkan. Parts of western and northern Maharashtra reported rainfall deficits of up to 28%. In Vidarbha, the area sown by the end of August fell from 50.04 lakh hectares last year to around 47.5 lakh hectares this year. In Marathwada, the sown area dropped from 48.21 lakh hectares to 46.19 lakh hectares over the same period. Pawar cited World Meteorological Organisation data to flag the possibility of the El Niño phenomenon exerting a greater impact in the coming years, saying its effects could become more pronounced from 2027. A presentation made before the state Cabinet on Tuesday said 20 of 36 districts recorded a rainfall deficit of at least 20% during the monsoon. Many areas did not get any rain for over 30 consecutive days, damaging Kharif crops and worsening the water crisis. The presentation said Maharashtra received 632.5 mm of rainfall during the monsoon against its average monsoon rainfall of 866.4 mm, a deficit of 27%. Twenty districts recorded a rainfall deficit of upwards of 20%.
