Farmers watch years of work dry up as drought hits Maharashtra’s fruit belts

For growers in both regions, the damage is not limited to one failed harvest. It means losing years of investment and facing the cost and wait involved in rebuilding an orchard.

A dried orange tree at Shivhari Hadke’s farm in Linga village. (Express Photo)

5 min readBeed, Jalna, NagpurNov 3, 2026 06:43 AM IST First published on: Nov 3, 2026 at 06:38 AM IST

In Jalna’s Ambad taluka, sweet lime trees bear wrinkled green fruit barely the size of lemons. Some have turned brown, sun-scorched skeletons, while ripe fruit are scattered on the ground. In Vidarbha’s Linga village in Amravati district, orange growers are plucking immature fruit in the hope of saving their trees.

Maharashtra’s worsening drought situation is beginning to take a visible toll on its fruit-growing belts. After the state recorded an 18% rainfall deficit between June 1 and September 26, drought or drought-like conditions were declared in 304 of its 358 talukas. In Marathwada and Vidarbha, where rain has been deficient and unevenly distributed, the impact is showing up in shrinking fruit, premature crop loss and trees drying up.