NAGPUR :- Rains ravage crops in Vidarbha

Widespread rains all over Vidarbha on Thursday have caused further damage to standing kharif crops of cotton, soyabean and tur while excess moisture may not auger well for the recently sown seeds of chana (gram) in Rabi crop in western Vidarbha.

The winter rains this year have already posed a problem for standing kharif crops in several districts of Vidarbha. The unseasonal rains have come after a particularly heavy monsoon that saw the state recording a rainfall of 122% this year. Series of showers spread over last one week have not only hampered harvesting of cotton and soyabean crop but have also ruined tur frown as inter-crop with cotton all over western Vidarbha. This year looking to high ruling prices of cotton and tur, there was a major shift to these two cash crops from soyabean.

"Traders are taking an advantage of this situation. The cotton prices which ruled at Rs 4600 a quintal around Diwali day, were brought down to Rs 3800 couple of days later by traders saying that it was too wet," said Suresh Bolenwar, a farmer from Pandharkawda.

While some farmers considered the untimely rains delaying the onset of winter session favourable for better growth of cotton bolls, some farmers growing chana (gram) crop in Rabi season were worried that excessive rains would lead to rotting of the seed before germination. There were reports of rains from all over the region. Even paddy crop in eastern Vidarbha belt was damaged by the fresh showers.