Yellow Alert in North Maharashtra Raises Fear Among Nashik Farmers

A yellow alert was issued till 17th March by the Indian Meteorological Department for the region of North Maharashtra with a warning of light to moderate rainfall accompanied by gusty winds and lightning, which caused the farming community in Nashik to panic.

In the district of Nandgaon taluka, lightning has already claimed one life. A sixty-year-old farmer named Nana Magan Chavan of the Tandulwadi village died on being struck by lightning around 12:30 am on Tuesday.

Despite it was raining fiercely at the moment, Chavan had ventured out of his home to cover the harvested onions with plastic sheets. He attempted to cover his produce when he was struck by lightning. According to cops from Nandgaon, he passed away there and then. The police have reported an accidental death.

Light to moderate rain fell for a while late on Monday night in various rural and urban areas of Nashik. On Tuesday morning, the Nashik Road and Sharanpur Road portions of the city experienced more light rainfall. The Nanadgoan and Niphad talukas were also severely rained upon.

Farmers are concerned that more rain, as predicted by IMD, may severely damage their crops, rendering them unsellable.

Beginning on March 4, rain-battered areas of the districts of Nashik, Ahmednagar, Dhule, Jalgaon, and Nandurbar for four days, causing standing crops on 19,000 hectares of farmland to be damaged. Almost 28,000 farms experienced losses.

"In Nashik, grape harvesting has begun. During the most recent downpours, a sizable portion of grapes that were ready for harvest were harmed. Further rain would bring about our demise "said grape farmer Anil Bhalerao.

The North Maharashtra farmers have received a warning from the agriculture department. In the event that it rains, they have been instructed to take all necessary steps to avoid diseases in crops (wheat, onion, chilli, grape, and pomegranate).

"As soon as the rain stops, farmers should begin harvesting the produce that is ready for harvest. If that isn't possible, they should begin spraying pesticides on the crop (to ward off diseases) if it won't be harvested for another 20 days "officials in agriculture stated.