MUMBAI/PUNE, DEC 10: There is an old political saying: ``Good rains brings good political harvest'', but for the Maharashtra government, the winter rains have brought unseasonal trouble.

The depression that brought sudden rain and hailstorm to most parts of Maharashtra has thrown up a depressing set of facts and figures about the damage caused to various crops. And with the winter session of the State Legislature around the corner, the government has begun calculating the compensation money it would have to be dole out from the empty exchequer.

According to a top official in the Agricultural Department, the matter was to be taken up in the last Cabinet meeting, but the government decided to wait for an assessment of damage and also for the reaction from the farming community. The assessment by the Agricultural Commissioner, Pune, says that the government need to pay a compensation aggregating Rs 20 crore to the affected farmers.

As per the preliminary estimate, the rains have resulted in damage to crops in 3.86 lakh hectares in Vidarbha, Western Maharashtra and Konkan out of the total 53 lakh hectares under Rabi plantation this year. Of the total area under Rabi plantation, crop on about 2.86 lakh hectares has been damaged beyond 50 per cent. The worst affected is the Vidarbha region which would be in focus during the forthcoming session of the State Legislature.

In Vidarbha region, Bhandara district bore the brunt with crop on 1.87 lakh hectares damaged beyond 50 per cent and about that on 87,000 hectares damaged below 50 per cent. Farmers had harvested rice on about 70,000 hectares in the district and it was kept in open. Consequently, the rice seeds germinated due to the rains. The cotton crop in Nagpur and Wardha districts has also been destroyed.

And though the rainfall has stopped, the State Agriculture Department is now finding itself in a bigger mess with a sizeable number of crops having developed worms as a fallout dampness.

With a large number of crops facing the problem, the axe has mainly fallen upon cotton, the highest revenue churning crop in State, which is reporting incidences of development of large number of cotton boll worms from all over State.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Agriculture Department Joint Director (Extension) Yuvraj Salunkhe said that cotton harvest, which was already facing a grim situation as the bursting process of cotton balls was delayed due to increase in moisture in the atmosphere, has now been invaded worms.Highly placed sources in the State Agriculture Department affirmed that cotton production this year will be no less than 25 to 30 per cent below the average mark. ``The cotton production, which was expected to fall by around 15 per cent due to rains in from June to August now stands at a staggering loss of around 30 per cent due to recent rains'', said the sources. This implies that from annual production of around 27 lakh bells, this year the State would produce only 18.9 lakh bells thus incurring a cumulative loss in tunes of several crore of rupees, the sources added.

In addition, in about 20 districts in the State including Beed, Latur, Osmanabad, Buldhana, Akola, Yavatmal various crops like Rice, Tur, Kharif Jowar, Udad, Nangli, Soyabin, Sunflower and Maze have been damaged due to rain and hail storm. The Rabi plantation for the same crops have also been damaged as the farmers were completely helpless against unseasonal rains over the standing crop.

On the horticultural side, the grape farming in Khandesh, Nashik and Pune is in a complete state of disarray. According to the estimate of the government officials the total grapes output would be reduced by 30 percent. Moreover the crop of Papaya, Pomegranate and Berry crops have also be devastated by the rain. The Alphanso farmers in Konkan are also a worried lot. The flowering of mango trees had just begun and they are not sure how the rain would affect the output in the season which is about five months away.

Even as the experts are debating the effects of El Nino, for Maharashtra the the whole season was full of unexpected trouble. In last October also there was a hailstorm in Western Maharashtra and some other parts of the State. At that time the government had to pay compensation to farmers to the tune of Rs 5 crore at the rate of Rs 1000 to 2000 per hectares.

This time around the Opposition is better prepared to encash the tragedy. Leader of the opposition in the lower house Madhukarrao Pichad has already demanded that the government should compensate for the damage at the rate of Rs 10,000 per hectares.

For the government it is virtually a Catch-22 situation. It cannot afford to be termed `anti-farmers' in the elections year by not meeting the their expectation for compensation. On the other hand any additional financial burden on the State Exchequer would only worsen the situation.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.