Farmers of oranges in Maharashtra are caught in the grip of a severe drought, their orchards withering amid an intense heat wave. Nearly 40-60% of the orange orchards in the Vidarbha region have gone completely dry.
Shridhar Thakre, executive director, MahaOrange, a body that facilitates the export of oranges, formed by the State Agriculture Marketing Board, said that the condition of the orchards is so bad that it will take another five years to revive them.
“For the past month, temperatures in Vidarbha and Nagpur regions have been in the 45-57 degrees C range and the water levels have gone down drastically below 1,000 feet. Nearly 30% of the orchards are completely burnt and 60% are withering and drying up with the leaves wilting and drying up. The crop damage is to the tune of 40-60%,” Thakre told FE.
Amravati is one of the major orange growing districts in the Vidarbha region in Maharashtra. Scanty rainfall in the last two years and prolonged high temperatures throughout May and June have severely hit orange cultivators across Amravati and Nagpur districts. “This is the first time that temperatures continuously hovered between 44 degrees to 47.5C in May.”
