Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that unseasonal rains and hailstorm have caused extensive damage to the crops in Madhya Pradesh with the farmers suffering a loss of about Rs 13,000 crore as per reports received from the districts.
“The farmers have suffered extensive damage to their crops due to unseasonal rains and hailstorm which is going on even now, resulting in a crop loss of about Rs 13,000 crore,” Chouhan told the media on Tuesday. He said the State Government had requested the Centre to provide immediate relief to the farmers and send a team to assess the damage. Principal Secretary to the Agriculture Department Rajesh Rajora said that the State's total production of rabi crop would decline by 10 per cent because of the natural calamity.
Giving details of the loss, the Chief Minister said that due to the hailstorm the rabi crop was damaged in 26 lakh hectares and the Government had decided to raise the amount of relief from Rs 2,000 cr to Rs 2,600 crore. He said 30,000 villages were affected. The losses included 20 lakh tonnes (lT) of wheat crop, 10 lT of gram, three lT of masoor (lentil) and 1.5 lT of other crops. According to Rajora, three-fourth of masoor and one-third of gram crop was affected.
The estimate was based on the available data collected till March 5, and the survey to assess the damage to the crops after that was under way. Chouhan said that a memorandum demanding relief to the affected farmers was being rushed to the Centre by Tuesday evening itself. The State Government has also requested the Centre to send a team soon to assess the damage. The Government has already announced a slew of relief measures such as provision of wheat and rice at Rs 1 per kg to the farmers who suffered over 50 per cent damage to their crops.