With no rain in sight, farmers move to Nashik

NASHIK: Vilas Dhangare, a farmer from Malegaon, waited for a month for the clouds to open up. A few days ago, with no sign of rain yet, he realized he wouldn’t be able to feed his family of seven for long. He packed his bags and set off for Nashik and has taken up daily wage work here.
With the sowing season coming to an end and no rainfall yet, farmers have started migrating for work.They said there is no point waiting for monsoon as the peak season of sowing almost ending and the already sown seeds gone waste. Many of them have come to Nashik and have set up temporary hutments at the Dongre Vasti Gruha at old Gangapur naka.
“My family owns a nine acres of land in Malegaon, but with no rains I had no option but to migrate to city in search of wages,” said Dhangare, who is the sole earning member in his family.
Unlike other regions such as Marathwada where farmers from water-scarce parts start moving out in the summer, migration is not common in this part of the state.
Dhangare said that in all these years he has never felt the need to move out of his village and area for work. “Even if it rains now, there is no point sowing as the ideal time for sowing has lapsed, which will result in poor produce,” he said.
These farmers know moving to the city isn’t a fool-proof plan. “Employers come to us in search of cheap labour and only take the required number of workers needed along with them mainly to construction sites. The Rs 300 earned is hardly sufficient to meet the basic expenses in the city,” said Tukaram Mundhe a farmer from Dhule district, who has also moved to Nashik.
Mundhe owns five acres of land and said he suffered losses after he sowed soyabean and other crops on his farmland hoping for good rains. “A sack of seeds costs Rs 3, 000 and fertilisers and other pre-sowing operations are an additional expense. I do not have the burden of loan, but the situation is worrisome,” he said. He added there is no water in the village and women have to travel long distances to fetch it. “In the city something can be managed,” he said added.
Ramchand Trimbake has travelled from Deurgaon Girnare from Nashik district ,which sees ample rainfall every year allowing plantation of paddy crops. However, deficit monsoon this year has also forced him out of his village.
“In the last one week, I could get work for three days. The paddy I planted has dried out owing to poor rains and there is no money to carry out the sowing process again,” Trimbake said, adding that he has managed paddy plantation on a small patch of land, which is watered daily, but it would be impossible to keep the plantation alive if it doesn’t rain soon.
Nashik district collector Vilas Patil said the migrants should immediately return to their respective villages. “Works will be allotted to them at their respective villages by concerned authorities,” he said. These works, which are already on the shelf, include construction of toilets, plantation and other development works can generate an employment of at least 100 people. “However it cannot be assured that they would get the work of their choice,” he added.