10 of the 11 tehsils in Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh have been declared drought-hit.
Madhya Pradesh is facing its worst agricultural crisis in recent years with one-third of the state declared drought-hit by the revenue department.
In Atanitya village, 20 kilometers from Chhatarpur, 60-year-old Hira Adivasi is among the 200 farmers who lost their crop due to the shortage of rainfall. While the government has promised relief to the farmers, Hira has not received any. He has to repay a bank loan from his own pocket even after his soybean crop sowed over 3 acres of land dried up completely.
"This year crops failed because of less rain, I have to repay the bank a loan of Rs 40,000. The government had assured help last year and this year as well, but so far we received no help so far."
Like many desperate farmers at the Chhatarpur bus stand, farmer Rakesh Pal has no option but migrate to a bigger city to search for a livelihood.
"This year has been bad for us farmers. There has been no rainfall and our crops have been destroyed. Now we have no option but to migrate to cities to earn and support my family," said Rakesh.
10 of the 11 tehsils in Chhatarpur have been declared drought-hit. The district administration says the situation may be worse. So far, 114 of the 353 tehsils in the state have been reported as drought affected.
Collector of Chhatarpur district Dr Masoor Akhtar says, "10 of our tehsils have been declared drought-hit and we have sent a proposal for the remaining one tehsil to be declared drought affected as well. We are helping people by providing water and even fodder for animals."
At least 22 farmer suicides have been reported this year in Madhya Pradesh but the government says it's not due to crop failure.