Unseasonal showers wreck vegetable and fruit crops in and around Pune

“Standing crop of wheat, which was about to be harvested, was flooded due to continuous rain. At many places, the crop has suffered 50 to 60 per cent losses. Vegetables and fruits too have suffered due to the unseasonal rains, especially leafy vegetables such as spinach, methi and coriander. Also, tomato, cucumber, gourds — the crops predominantly preferred around Pune city — will now be susceptible to Downy Mildew disease and thus negatively affect the yields,” said Shriram Gadhave of the All India Vegetable Growers’ Association.

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Shivlal Bhosale, a trader with the Pune Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC), said the damage caused by the unseasonal rains would badly affect the supply of vegetables to city markets.

“We experienced a short supply today itself,” said Bhosale. “Since it was pouring continuously, harvesting of vegetables and their transport became difficult. Thus, there was as much as 40 per cent decrease in the arrival of vegetables…,” he said.

Bhosale said the impact had not been felt till now since people preferred to stay indoors due to the rain on Sunday and the demand for vegetables was low. “If the shortage continues Monday onwards, the prices will definitely shoot up. We expect that the supply will remain low for a fortnight,” he said.

Meanwhile, Yavatmal, Akola, Amravati and other parts of Vidarbha have reported incidents of hailstorms. Reports suggest that the rains destroyed as much as 30 per cent of the standing crops of wheat and green gram. Agriculture officers said the rabi season in the region had started late and the unseasonal rains would now take toll on ready crops. Also, in parts of Nashik, the onion crop has been hit and the agriculture department has started a survey of the crop loss.