Chandrapur collector inspects drought-hit paddy and cotton fields in Ballarpur, orders field checks on 20% of sown area

Chandrapur: To gauge first-hand how much the drought conditions in the district have hurt standing crops, collector Vasumana Pant visited Ashti Rith and Palasgaon villages in Ballarpur taluka on Friday, October 9. The break in the rains has badly damaged paddy and cotton in the taluka; she walked through some farmers' fields and heard out those affected, Pudhari reported.

She sought details from district superintending agriculture officer Shankar Totawar on how the lack of rain has affected crops, the likely fall in yields and the problems farmers face. To make the loss assessment accurate and objective, she ordered 'ground truthing', or physical field verification, of 20% of the taluka's total sown area to be completed urgently and a report submitted.

The revenue and agriculture departments and the zilla parishad must work in coordination, she said, and the verification should get top priority because the report is what will allow the necessary proposals to be sent to the government quickly. During the tour she also visited a Kesar mango orchard planted at Kortimakta gram panchayat with funds from the VB-G RAM G rural employment and livelihood guarantee scheme and the district mineral fund.

Tahsildar Renuka Kokate, sub-divisional officer Dr Arjun Pawara, taluka agriculture officer Akash Pawar, block development officer Dhananjay Salve and Palasgaon sarpanch Sangita Soyam were among the officials, staff and local farmers present.

Source: Pudhari