Unseasonal rainfall damages crops on at least 64,000 hectares in north Maha

Nashik: Unseasonal rain that lashed parts of north Maharashtra's four districts in March damaged crops across 64,151 hectares and affected over one lakh farmers, stated the primary assessment report of the state agriculture department.The region experienced repeated spells of unseasonal rainfall on March 19, 20, 29, 30 and 31.Agriculture department officials said, "Nashik district emerged as the most affected during those five days in March. The district reported crop losses on nearly 30,400 hectares, involving more than 43,000 farmers from 259 villages. Baglan taluka was the worst affected, with crop losses reported on 16,818 hectares, followed by Malegaon taluka, where crops on 8,293 hectares were damaged."Officials added that major crops like onion, wheat, maize, vegetables, bajra, pomegranate and banana, were affected.During the March 29-31 spell, crops on 42,444 hectares were damaged across the four districts. Nashik accounted for the maximum damage during this period, with crops losses on 23,000 hectares. This will followed by Jalgaon district (11,120 hectares), followed by Dhule (8,145 hectares) and Nandurbar (179 hectares).Unseasonal rain on March 19-20 had damaged crops on 21,707 hectares across north Maharashtra. This impacted about 36,504 farmers from 637 villages across the four districts.Officials said, "Field-level assessments are underway to determine the extent of losses and initiate further processes as per govt norms."Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued orange alerts for rain accompanied by thunderstorms, lightning, gusty winds of 50–60 kmph and hail at isolated places on Thursday in Nashik, Ahilyanagar, Dhule, Nandurbar and Jalgaon districts. Authorities have advised farmers to take necessary precautions in view of the weather warning.On Monday, at least four people, including a woman and a minor boy, were killed and two others injured in rain-related incidents on Monday as unseasonal rainfall and hailstorms battered parts of the state causing widespread damage to crops and livestock.