2024, Vol. 7, Special Issue 10

Sangli region is prone to severe flooding due to its location in the upper Krishna basin and the catchment area of the Koyna and Almatti dams, experienced one of its most destructive floods in 2019. The flood was a result of an unprecedented 400% increase in rainfall within four days in the catchment areas of the Krishna and Warna rivers. This excessive precipitation, coupled with the inadequate discharge capacity of the Krishna River downstream of the Koyna dam, led to severe flooding, caused extensive damage to crops, livestock, and infrastructure, significantly affecting the local agricultural and dairy sectors.

This study was carried out to know the effect of 2019 flood on rural agriculture in the terms of cropping pattern and land utilization pattern of the flood affected land and was conducted in Miraj, Palus and Walwa tehsils of Sangli district as they were the worst flood-affected tehsils in the district. The data was collected through the personal interviews of the respondents. The study revealed that, majority of the farmers belongs to middle age group, completed their education till secondary education, having medium size of family, low experience in farming, low experience in dairy enterprises, medium social participation and marginal landholding, low livestock possession, medium annual income, low flood affected area, and has high extension contact and medium risk orientation and decision-making ability.

The findings shows that majority of the farmers have reported complete loss of crop. Sugarcane is cultivated as a major crop even after flood with increase in cultivation of rice and intercrops and about one-third of the farmers reported their land to be unsuitable for cultivation.