Farmers in Pithadiya village of Rajkot’s Jetpur taluka held a mock funeral for their crops on October 31, the day after a thunderstorm soaked groundnut, cotton and soybean ready for harvest, Gujarat Samachar reported. They want Rajkot declared drought-hit, a debt waiver, fodder and a revival of the Chief Minister’s Kisan Sahay scheme, which they say has stopped. Five days earlier the state had put four western districts on its drought list, and left Rajkot off it.
Rain fell in 21 talukas in the 24 hours to 6 am on October 31, GSTV reported. Visavadar in Junagadh district topped the state with 58 mm in the state emergency data cited by Gujarat Samachar’s English desk, while DeshGujarat put the town at 51 mm for October 30. Both reports agree on Amreli at 39 mm, Kunkavav Vadia at 38 mm and Jetpur at 31 mm. Khambha Gir in Amreli district and Gir Gadhada in Gir Somnath took strong wind as well, and showers reached Idar and Vadali in Sabarkantha, according to ETV Bharat.
Why 39 mm hurt more in a weak-monsoon year
A day’s rain of this size would barely register in July. It did its damage because of timing. Farmers had dug up groundnut and left it spread in the fields to dry before the trip to the market yard, so the rain hit a crop with no cover. Farmers in Amreli told GSTV the nuts had turned dark. One expected Rs 100 to Rs 150 less in the market, and another feared a loss of up to half.
The Jetpur farmers told Gujarat Samachar the weak monsoon had already cut groundnut yields to 5 to 10 maunds a vigha. Groundnut moved to the yard offered no safety either, they said, since it sat in the open without roofed storage. Rain also interrupted threshing, which added to labour and machine hire bills, and it spoiled fodder stored for cattle, a loss GSTV heard in Amreli too.
Drought aid stops at the four listed districts
The October 26 declaration covers Devbhumi Dwarka, Kutch, Jamnagar and Porbandar. Farmers there can claim Rs 8,500 a hectare for up to two hectares, or Rs 17,000 at most, plus subsidised fodder. A Rajkot or Amreli farmer gets none of that from the declaration, and Amreli growers told GSTV their area faces drought-like conditions with little irrigation water.
Last year offers the only recent yardstick, and the scale differs. The state announced a package of about Rs 10,000 crore in November 2025 after weeks of rain across all 33 districts, at Rs 22,000 a hectare for up to two hectares, Rural Voice reported. Surveys then found damage in 251 talukas. This spell lasted about a day and touched 21. Gujarat Samachar’s English report says field teams have gone out to assess losses, but we found no official damage figure or relief announcement as of Monday.
Groundnut sellers now wait on the MSP purchase date
Support-price buying could cushion some of the fall in open-market rates. The Centre set the 2026-27 groundnut MSP at Rs 7,517 a quintal, IANS reported via NewKerala, and Gujarat kept registration open on the i-Khedut portal until October 24, The News Mill reported with ANI inputs. We could not find a published purchase start date or the quality norms for this season, so registered farmers holding darkened nuts should check both with their local procurement centre before carting a load.
The weather at least has turned. The IMD’s October 31 bulletin, reported by DeshGujarat, issued no warnings for the following seven days and expected dry conditions from November 1, which gives farmers a window to dry and bring in what remains.
Sources: ગુજરાત સમાચાર, Gujarat Samachar English, GSTV, DeshGujarat, ETV Bharat, Rural Voice, The News Mill, NewKerala/IANS
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.