Rain stops in Karjat since September 15, paddy crop on thousands of hectares under threat

Karjat taluka, known for its paddy cultivation, is now under the shadow of drought. The rain has failed completely since September 15. Water in the fields has dropped and the paddy crop is in trouble. In many places the paddy ears have not yet emerged, and farmers are worried about whether the crop will come to their hands at all.

Karjat taluka was once famous for paddy cultivation on a large scale. There was a time when paddy was grown on about 25,000 to 27,000 hectares in the taluka. Large tracts of land were then sold for farm houses and second homes, and the area under paddy kept shrinking. It is now below 10,000 hectares. This year, paddy has reportedly been transplanted on barely 6,000 hectares.

Rain was poor in June this year. It began at the end of June and was good until the middle of September. Despite more than 3,000 mm of rain being recorded, the delay at the start upset the entire schedule of paddy transplanting. Transplanting is usually completed by the middle of July, but this time it continued into August. As a result, the crop was late in maturing.

Every year, by the end of September, golden paddy sways in the fields. This time October has begun and the crop in many fields is still not ready. The lack of necessary rain after September 15 has made matters worse. Some areas received rain with squalls, but farming did not benefit as expected. Farmers say paddy needs steady and ample rain to ripen. There are fears that falling water levels in the fields will hit the yield badly.

For this reason, the demand to declare drought in Karjat taluka is gaining strength. Farmer members of the Neral Vividh Vikas Karyakari Society raised the demand for a drought declaration at its annual general meeting. Several farmers have also met the Karjat tehsildar and put the same demand before the administration.

For now, paddy fields in many areas look green from above. Even so, farmers say that because of the shortage of water, the crop is unlikely to fill out fully. If it does not rain in the coming days, paddy farmers in Karjat taluka fear heavy losses.