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Vidarbha orange beltBhandara district: rain, rice and how green the fields are.
Bhandara district gets about 1281 mm of rain in an average year, 1135 mm of it from June to September. Rice is the main crop by a wide margin. Its cropland was greenest in Sep 2026 and barest in Jun 2026 in the Sentinel-2 record of the past year.
Facts, with their sources
Each fact names the public document it comes from and the year of its data. Where two official sources disagree, both are shown.
- The official normal rainfall is 1298.5 mm; over 1998 to 2021 the yearly total ran from 765.3 mm (2004) to 1691.2 mm (2013).Source: Central Ground Water Board, Aquifer Mapping and Management of Ground Water Resources, Bhandara District · Date: 2022
- Principal crops: rice 188,771 hectares, pulses 28,474 and oilseeds 9,299.Source: Central Ground Water Board, Bhandara District report, from the District Statistical Abstract 2020 (areas given in sq km) · Date: 2022
Rain in Bhandara in an average year
Bhandara gets about 1281 mm of rain in an average year, 1135 mm of it from June to September.
For comparison, the official normal in the Central Ground Water Board's report is 1298.5 mm a year. Source: Central Ground Water Board, Aquifer Mapping and Management of Ground Water Resources, Bhandara District · 2022
Source: CHIRPS v2.0 rainfall (Climate Hazards Center, UC Santa Barbara; Funk et al. 2015), averaged over the area by VarshaKrishi. It is a satellite-and-rain-gauge estimate, so it differs from official normals, which use other years and stations.
How green Bhandara's fields were, October 2025 to September 2026
Bhandara's cropland was greenest in Sep 2026 (NDVI 0.77) and barest in Jun 2026 (NDVI 0.19).
The monthly numbers
| Month | Greenness (NDVI) | Clear dates |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2025 | 0.69 | 5 |
| Nov 2025 | 0.45 | 5 |
| Dec 2025 | 0.37 | 5 |
| Jan 2026 | 0.39 | 5 |
| Feb 2026 | 0.39 | 5 |
| Mar 2026 | 0.33 | 5 |
| Apr 2026 | 0.33 | 5 |
| May 2026 | 0.29 | 5 |
| Jun 2026 | 0.19 | 5 |
| Jul 2026 | no clear view | 0 |
| Aug 2026 | no clear view | 0 |
| Sep 2026 | 0.77 | 3 |
Source: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel-2 data 2025-2026 (via the Microsoft Planetary Computer), processed by VarshaKrishi; cropland mask: ESA WorldCover 2021. NDVI runs from about 0.1 for bare soil to about 0.8 for a dense green crop. Orchards mapped as tree cover are not in this curve. How it is computed · Download the data (CSV)
What the satellite sees here
The satellite record VarshaKrishi has published is for one field near Katol, Nagpur district. The same satellites pass over every field in Vidarbha.
From October 2025 to September 2026, 48 Sentinel-2 dates gave a clear view of at least 30 per cent of Bhandara's cropland. Monsoon cloud is the main gap, which is why the weekly message says so when the satellite could not see a field.
These pages describe the place and what the satellite sees. They give no fertiliser, pesticide or irrigation amounts, and neither does the free Watch message. Ask your KVK for doses.
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Other parts of the belt
Districts
- Nagpur district
- Amravati district
- Wardha district
- Akola district
- Washim district
- Buldhana district
- Yavatmal district
- Chandrapur district
- Gadchiroli district
- Gondia district
Orange talukas
Last checked (AI-assisted): 18 Oct 2026. Facts checked against the sources listed on 18 Oct 2026 with AI assistance; not yet reviewed by an agronomist or local experts.