Pune: Paddy cultivation on 1,000 hectares was damaged due to untimely rain in the last three weeks of October, a preliminary report from the district agriculture office said. Paddy growers are facing a challenging situation as most plantations are currently in the harvesting stage, an official said. The district has paddy cultivation on about 60,000 hectares.
Sanjay Kachole, the district agriculture officer, told TOI that the losses vary in each tehsil, and they are increasing as there has been rain daily over the last few days. The officials are conducting spot inspections to assess the exact losses. "As per our assessment, a significant area under paddy has reported over 33% losses in Bhor, Velhe, Mulshi, Maval, Khed, Ambegaon, and Junnar tehsils over the last fortnight.
Our tehsil-level agriculture officials are in contact with growers to save their crops from losses," he said. Vegetable, soybean, and fruit plantations have also been affected by untimely rain, said the official. They predicted a price rise in some vegetables in the coming weeks.
Untimely rainfall was received in two digits in short duration. "There are instances of over 70 mm rainfall recorded in less than one hour. Any crop in the harvesting stage will not withstand such rain.
Thus, we have found harvested paddy submerged in rainwater in the farms," said a department official. Activists and growers said that the govt should respond promptly to tackle the situation. "Timely weather alert would make a huge .