Agricultural experts have indicated that if it does not rain in the next 40 days, the dry spell in eight districts of Maharashtra's Marathwada District could lead to the emergence of a drought-like situation for a fourth consecutive year.
So far, 468 farmers have committed suicide in the Marathwada region owing to their inability to pay off their loan-related debts and also because of the drought prevailing in their area.
In the last six months, about 300 farmers have ended their lives. In January 2015 alone, 152 farmers committed suicide.
Experts say that if the region fails to receive rainfall within a week's time, over 90 percent of crops sowed in around 32 lakh hectares of land would be damaged.
The estimated amount of loss stands at around Rs 300 crores.