Maharashtra in deep agrarian crisis

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Maharashtra in deep agrarian crisis

As always, Maharashtra has been reeling under a deep agrarian crisis due to the Monsoon break. After a brisk start, the Monsoon rains have taken a break with the drying of sowed seeds on entire Maharashtra agriculture fields. The farmers completed sowing with good Monsoon in the Mrig, suddenly now rains have disappeared leaving lakhs of farmers into deep trouble. Now, they have to once again take sowing when again rain gods will show mercy. The farmers have done a mistake here. The state agriculture department was cautioning them frequently not to sow as the rains are not enough for such act, they did not heed to department advice. In our agriculture, there is tradition to start sowing in Mrig Nakshatra in which they consider the rains will definitely shower the earth. As per their accurate prediction, the Monsoon started at the correct time, but later is has disappeared. This break that taken by Monsoon is extremely detrimental to farm fields with incomplete sowed seeds.  Already, the Maharashtra agriculture sector is infested with many problems. There is a flood of complaints of fake seeds due to which farmers have to face tremendous loss. With the sowing of fake seeds, nothing grows from the soil and farmers have to take sowing operation afresh. Already, the farmers in Maharashtra are living in poverty and they have to afford the expenses of second sowing. In addition to the problem of fake seeds, the farmers are now facingMonsoon breaks. Maharashtra is infamous for the fact that thousands of farmers have committed suicide in recent years due to indebtedness and crop failure. The main reason for crop failure is lack of enough rains or drought. The same two disasters may occur in this year also. There are no indications so far about looming draught this year is a good thing. But, this Monsoon break is really creating disappointment in farmers. Indian weather is said to be very whimsical and the irony is that majority of Indian farming is dependent upon the whims of Monsoon rains. This has compounded to the already deep agrarian crisis. The state water conservation and irrigation departments have failed to complete dam projects in time due to various reasons and so the farmers dependent mostly upon rain gods have become helpless. There are not enough big dams in Maharashtra like Punjab. So, farming in Maharashtra is not as richer as in Punjab. The Maharashtra break has pushed farmers already lying in poverty into more trouble. The solution is the government should provide a sprinkler system to farmers so that they can continue the provision of water to the farms. In the Corona crisis, only the farming sector was not affected due to lockdown so that, we have not faced any food shortage. The government should pay back the farmers in their favor to the nation. The Indian monsoon is taking a break-even before it has covered the entire country. With the India Meteorological Department (IMD) saying it doesn’t know when the monsoon will revive, both farmers and policymakers are apprehensive. The slowing down of the monsoon could lead to a dip in agriculture production at a time when economic indicators are weak and the pandemic is yet to be controlled. This will clearly have livelihood implications. When the country is reeling under low production, a dip in agriculture production can be disastrous for us. We should ready for this calamity and take measures to save farming which is the backbone of our economy.