Pune: The district agriculture department on Tuesday launched a crop-loss panchnama drive across eight drought-hit tehsils, covering an estimated 1.25 lakh hectares of parched kharif crops. However, a severe shortage of field staff threatens to delay the exercise, triggering anxieties among farmers desperately seeking immediate financial relief.The panchnama exercise is being carried out in Bhor, Velhe, Khed, Shirur, Daund, Purandar, Baramati and Indapur. Agriculture and revenue officials have been deployed to assess crop damage village-wise and farm-wise.“Our teams comprising an assistant agriculture officer and two revenue department officials have started the exercise. We have not set a deadline as the panchnama has to cover all villages and farms in these tehsils. The work is massive,” district agriculture officer Vaibhav Tambe told TOI.Officials said manpower remains a major challenge. An agriculture assistant officer is generally responsible for around 10 villages, making it difficult to physically visit every village and assess individual farms within a short period.“To complete the drive at the earliest, our officials will also take help from local villagers and prominent persons in the respective villages,” Tambe said.Pune district recorded kharif sowing over more than two lakh hectares this season. Paddy accounts for around 60,000 hectares, while soybean has been cultivated on more than 45,000 hectares. Maize and other seasonal crops make up the remaining area.Baramati and Indapur have reported some of the most severe crop stress following prolonged gaps in rainfall. According to agriculture officials, the dry spell in parts of the two tehsils has exceeded 50 days, reportedly the longest such gap in around 15 years.Similar conditions have been reported in pockets of Shirur, Daund and Khed. In Bhor and Velhe, where paddy is a major kharif crop, farmers have reported stunted crop growth and disease attacks. Officials attributed the deterioration to the prolonged rainfall gap and higher daytime temperatures over the past three weeks.Fruit plantations have also come under stress, particularly in Indapur and Purandar. Pomegranate and custard apple growers are struggling to provide irrigation to plantations, while changing weather conditions have added to the stress.“The fruit plantations, particularly in Indapur and Purandar, are badly affected. At several places, growers are struggling to provide water, and the changing climatic conditions have worsened the situation,” a senior agriculture official said.Farmer activists, however, said the panchnama process should not become a procedural hurdle for relief.“Farmers have already suffered crop losses because of the prolonged dry spell. The administration should ensure that the assessment is transparent, quick and covers every affected farmer. If there is a shortage of manpower, additional teams should be deployed rather than making farmers wait for weeks,” said Shripad Lonari, a farmer activist from Khed tehsil.Another concern is that the extent of damage could increase if the rainfall situation does not improve. Farmers in the worst-affected areas are also facing rising irrigation costs as they depend increasingly on private water sources and tankers to protect standing crops and orchards.Agriculture officials said they were under pressure to complete the exercise as farmers across the eight tehsils were demanding immediate assessment and compensation.Officials said the panchnamas would provide the govt with village and farm-level data needed to determine the extent of crop damage and process relief under applicable norms.
