KERALA
AGRICULTURAL PATTERN : TRENDS AND CHALLENGES
Abstract
The agricultural
scenario in Kerala is somewhat unique and distinct from other state in India in
terms of cropping pattern and land utilization pattern. After the formation of
Kerala state there has been diversification in the cropping pattern. In addition
to rice and tapioca numbers of other garden land crops have contributed to
state’s food supply. Why do the people shift from the production of food grains
to nonfood grains? Is it a challenge or not? If it is a challenge what will be
the future of our state? Of the total requirements of food grains only 15% is
produced in the state. The deficiency in the production of food grains may
adversely affect our food security. Thus, the major part of state’ income
should be used to buy food grains from other states. How far is it possible?
What is the present condition of the state’s income? Who are the real victims?
All these questions make the problems of agricultural pattern of Kerala as
serious challenges. This paper is an attempt to make an insight into these challenges.
Also an attempt has been made to analyze trends in the agricultural pattern of
Kerala.
INTRODUCTION
India is a large country
having substantial agricultural diversities. Different regions exhibit entirely
different characteristics so that no one plan can be conceived for all
agricultural regions of the country. The share of agriculture in national
income is often taken as an indicator of economic development. Unlike the other
regions in India, Kerala state is characterized by extreme diversity in its
physical resources and agro-climatic endowment.
In earlier period the choice of cropping pattern was guided by agronomic
considerations and consumption needs of farmers but now the market forces
decide it.Official reports show that agricultural income in Kerala showed a
steady growth up to mid-seventies began to decline thereafter and showed a
vacillating trend in the eighties. By the end of eighties cash crops started
generating higher income to the farm sector. Thus, people shifted from the
production of food crops to cash crops. The question is whether it is a
challenge or not? Let us examine it by analyzing trends in the agricultural
pattern of Kerala.
Land use pattern in Kerala
Land use implies the
utilization of the total available land for agricultural and nonagricultural
purposes. Out of the total geographical area of 38,86,287 hectares in Kerala,
55% area as used as cultivable land , 28% area is forest and 12% of area is put
under other nonagricultural use. The current net sown area is 52% of the total
geographical area. Thus most of the land that is available for cultivation is
already under cultivation. Hence the scope of bringing more area under cultivation
is marginal and increase in the agricultural production can be achieved mainly
through increasing the productivity of crops. The category wise land use in the
state in 1955-56 and 2014-15 in Kerala is given in the following diagrams;
|
52%
|
During 1955-56, 48% of total area was used for
cultivation in 2004-05 it was 55% and now it has been reduced to 52%. The area
under forest has been increased both in absolute terms and percentage during
this period. The use of land for nonagricultural purpose has also increased a
lot by about 2.28 lakh hectares. Barren and uncultivable land has decreased by
41%, this may be due to mining for construction purposes.
Cropping pattern in Kerala
Cropping pattern in Kerala
is dominated by cash crops. Food crops comprising of rice, tapioca and pulses
accounted for just 10.21% of the total cultivated area in 2015-16 while cash
crops constituted 62.8% of the total cultivated area. Trends in the area and
production of important crops in Kerala from 1960-61 to 2011-12 are given
below;
Area under cultivation
of important crops in Kerala (area in’000 hectares)
Sl. No
|
Crops
|
1961-62
|
1971-72
|
1981-82
|
1991-92
|
2001-02
|
211-12
|
1
|
Rice
|
752.69
|
875.2
|
806.9
|
541.32
|
322.36
|
208.16
|
2
|
Pulses
|
43.52
|
37.8
|
32.4
|
24.7
|
2.9
|
3.66
|
3
|
Pepper
|
99.85
|
116.4
|
108.07
|
169.7
|
203.95
|
85.33
|
4
|
Cashewnut
|
55.02
|
100.7
|
142.36
|
117.3
|
89.7
|
54.05
|
5
|
Tapioca
|
236.7
|
303.3
|
243.5
|
142.2
|
111.18
|
74.5
|
6
|
Coconut
|
504.8
|
730.3
|
652.8
|
846.2
|
905.7
|
820.87
|
7
|
Tea
|
37.4
|
37.1
|
36.16
|
34.7
|
36.9
|
37.02
|
8
|
Coffee
|
18.8
|
32.9
|
57.9
|
82.3
|
84.8
|
84.41
|
9
|
Rubber
|
133.07
|
188.6
|
248
|
419.2
|
475.03
|
539.57
|
10
|
cardamom
|
28.68
|
47.5
|
56.37
|
61.8
|
41.3
|
41.6
|
Trends in Production of
Important Crops in Kerala (‘000 tonnes)
Sl. No
|
Crops
|
1961-62
|
1971-72
|
1981-82
|
1991-92
|
2001-02
|
211-12
|
1
|
Rice
|
988.15
|
1352
|
1339.86
|
1060.22
|
703.5
|
568.9
|
2
|
Pulses
|
16.89
|
13.1
|
21.41
|
17.98
|
6.28
|
3.12
|
3
|
Pepper
|
26.55
|
25.1
|
28.5
|
41.56
|
58.24
|
37.99
|
4
|
Cashewnut
|
84.44
|
113
|
79.82
|
97.91
|
65.86
|
36.74
|
5
|
Tapioca
|
1618.71
|
5429
|
4041.16
|
2737.35
|
2455.89
|
2567.95
|
6
|
Coconut
|
3247
|
4054
|
3024
|
4206
|
5479
|
5941
|
7
|
Tea
|
37.42
|
43
|
50.71
|
68.38
|
66.09
|
57.9
|
8
|
Coffee
|
8.14
|
14.1
|
26.98
|
34
|
66.7
|
68.17
|
9
|
Rubber
|
24.59
|
89
|
139.45
|
343.1
|
580.35
|
788.94
|
10
|
cardamom
|
1.26
|
1.51
|
2.8
|
2.78
|
8.38
|
10.22
|
A look at the
area and production of crops reveals worrisome trend and it is alarming in the
case of food crops such as paddy and tapioca an several other important crops
of the state including coconut. The total area under food crops in the 1970s
was around 20 lakh hectares. Presently it is in the region of 13 lakh hectares.
There has been a steady decline in the cultivation area of paddy from the
middle of the 1970s; after reaching a peak of 8.8 lakh hectares in 1974-75. In
2011-12 it is just 2.08 lakh hectares, here is a huge loss about 6.7 lakh hectares.
Presently the area under paddy cultivation is less than 10% of the gross
cropped area as against 30% in 1970s. Naturally the production of rice also has
declined in similar fashion in the absence of significant increase in
productivity. In 2011-12, the production of rice was around 5.67 lakh tones as
against a peak of 1.4 lakh tones in 1972-73. It is so inadequate that it can
meet only one- fifth of the state’s requirements.
The crops such as coconut
and tapioca, which are very important in the life of the people of the state,
have also recorded sharp decline in area and production in recent years,
particularly after launching the liberalization policies. At the same time, the
area and production of some cash crops like rubber, coffee recorded significant
increases. Thus it is necessary to analyses why the people shift from the
production of food grains to nonfood crops and its severe consequences.
Why do the people shift from food crops to nonfood
crops?
Marginalization of agricultural holdings
due to extreme subdivision and fragmentation and the decreasing trend in the
family participation in farm operations with resultant increase in production
costs and dominance of perennial crops make Kerala agriculture more vulnerable.
Relatively high profitability of cash crops and plantations, the higher labor
intensive and seasonal nature of cultivation and the increasing wage rate, the
exemption of plantation crops from land reform act, phenomenal increase in the
export price of many of the plantation crops and cashewnut, the promotional
activities by the Government in the area of plantations and cash crops etc.
have definitely encouraged the cultivators in Kerala to opt for higher valued
cash crops or plantations wherever possible and to curtail the area under rice
and other food grains to the minimum.
Is it a challenge?
Generally the shift from food
crops to cash crops should increase the contribution of agriculture sector to
the total income of the state. But in case of Kerala it has not happened.
Otherwise it declined the share. Recent years have witnessed severe stagnation
in the growth of the agricultural sector. According to data from the
Directorate of Economics and Statistics using 011-12 as base year, agriculture
and allied sectors recorded a growth rate of 1.43% in the first year 2012-13 of
the 12th plan period. The share of agriculture and allied sector in
the total GSDP of Kerala has also declined from 14.38% in 2011-12 to 11.48% in
2014-15 and to 10.38% in 2015-16.
Furthermore, it may also
affect our food security as well as the stability of the state. According to
Government figures, Kerala’s total food grain requirement in 1997 was 48 lakh
tones a year and internal production accounted for only 10 lakh tones. That is,
of the total requirements of food grains only 1/5 is produced in the state.
However the state had learned to cope with the fact that it was not
self-sufficient in food grains production by maintaining what has often been
hailed as the most effective Public Distribution System(PDS) in the country,
which ensures access to food grains to almost the entire population using
imports from other states. The introduction of universal rationing and the
evolution and expansion of the PDS in the state was based on a tacit
understanding between the central and state Government, with the former taking
the responsibility of adequate food availability to meet the state’s food
requirements. Thus the PDS in the state was not to be considered as a mere
concession to the poor but as a system essential for food security in an acute
food deficit state. The current situation in the Kerala, on the rice front is
dismal. The vastly dwindling acreage under paddy and the greatly reduced off
take from the PDS (since the introduction of TPDS) have made majority of the
population dependent on the market for their rice purchase. In fact, sufficient
grounds didn’t exist for introducing TPDS in a state which had a
well-functioning PDS, bestowing progressively larger benefits to the poor. In
this context, the stability of the state is questioning. Let’s examine it.
First, as 25% of
Kerala’s population have been termed BPL by the planning commission, the
guaranteed and subsidized allocation of grain for BPL households under the TPDS
accounts for only 10% of the previous PDS supply. The Kerala Government has
identified 42% of households as BPL households and is providing the BPL subsidy
to these households from the state budget. Thus a major parts of state’s income
should be used to maintain food security. How
far is it possible? At present Kerala is experiencing deficit budget. That
is the public expenditure is greater than the public revenue. According to
2017-18 state budget, the total expenditure on revenue account is estimated to
be almost Rs.1, 096.2 billion and the revenue receipts have been pegged at
Rs.935.8 billion, leading to a deficit of Rs.160.4 billion. The budget has
pegged the fiscal deficit at Rs.257.5 billion or 3.4% of the GSDP. The
continuous deficiency in the food grain production may further increase the
public expenditure and debt and it will adversely affect state’s stability.
Thus, changes in the cropping pattern make serious challenges.
A situation of
utterly inadequate domestic production of food grains and other food articles
can have serious implications for the food security of the state. The decline
in area of a few crops is normally compensated by a corresponding expansion in
the area of other crops. What is surprising in the context of Kerala is that
this is not happening. Instead, the tendencies like large scale fallowing of
land, conversion of farm lands for other purposes, nominal or non-intensive
cultivation, leasing, etc., are increasingly gaining ground. This is reflected
in the decline in net sown area on the one hand and in the increase in area
under non-agricultural uses, and fallow on the other. The practice of leasing land
is particularly significant as it was completely stopped by the early 1970s and
any form of tenancy is illegal in the post-land reform Kerala
Who are the real victims?
We have seen that the
shift from the production of food grains to nonfood crops have severe
challenges to the state’s food security and stability. Here a question is
arising that who are the real victims. Recent studies state that “to give
stagnant agricultural growth a boost, a shift must be made from concentrating
on the country’s food security to focusing on the farmer’s income security”. (a
study by Vishavjeet Chaudhary and Gursharan Singh on what is the future of
agriculture in India?, 2016). From this its clear that the real victims are the
farmers. Their income security is questioning now. Eventhough they had shifted
from the food crops to cash crops by considering its benefits, they are not
able to compete with fluctuations in the market price. Thus it has both
positive as well as negative sides. Appropriate measures from the part of
Government are necessary here.
The crisis is not
just a relative decline of agriculture; it is more severe as reflected in
absolute decline in employment, production and income generated in the sector,
worsening of the food security situation, and growing indebtedness and misery
of peasants and agricultural laborers (Nair and Menon 2009, Mohanakumar and
Sharma 2006). Large scale conversion and filling up of wet land, mainly paddy
land, reported from almost everywhere in the state is leading to an ecosystem
crisis. The decline of agriculture tends to knock down allied activities such
as animal husbandry, poultry, village industries and the rural economy in
general. The crisis has affected almost every crop in the non-plantation
sector, and its impact was felt almost everywhere in the state, leaving hardly
any region out of its influence. The state has lost much of its cropping diversity;
across crops as well as within each crop (the state lost many rice varieties).
The indiscriminate impact of the crisis, reaching every region as well as
crops, underlines the need to search for general factors for the crisis,
instead of confining to crop or region specific issues.
The literature
has come up with a host of apparent and immediate causes such as decline in
area, stagnation in yield, technological backwardness, absence of
mechanization, labor shortage, high wages, instability in product prices,
environmental degeneration, preponderance of small holdings,etc. The study by
Kannan and Pushpangadan (1988) situates the problem in the context of declining
yield rates (particularly of paddy) and increasing real wages of agricultural
labor. The decline in yield and production is chiefly attributed to the
inadequate and ill-conceived development of critical factors such as water
management and land development, a problem aggravated by environmental
degradation since the mid-seventies. Kannan and Pushpangadan (1990) showed a
relationship between low yield and decline in area as the low yield areas
registered a higher level of decline in cultivated area. Apart from paddy, a
number of other crops also have witnessed stagnation in yield. This indicates
that there is a technological stagnation in non-plantation agriculture since
the mid-seventies.
Recently Department of
Agriculture has taken several initiatives for the improvement of agricultural
sector included integrated food crop production programme focusing on
self-sufficiency in vegetable production including comprehensive rice
development, modernization of existing farms and labs and establishment of new
labs, institutional mechanism for marketing, focusing initially on vegetables
development of farmers markets and setting up of agriculture markets,
production and distribution of quality planting materials, comprehensive fallow
land cultivation, strenghtening extension activities, Agricultural Technology
Management (ATMA) plus model of extension, rejuvenation of spices economy, crop
health management covering pests and disease surveillance, promotion of organic
farming and safe food production, crops insurance, establishment of 20 Agro
Service Centers(ASCs) and strenghtening the existing ACSs for improved service
delivery, revival package for pepper in Wyanad. In 2016-17 Harithakeralam
Mission has been launched focusing on food crop production, waste management
and water resource conservation and development.
However there is a strong correlation
between stability in agricultural production and food security. Thus along with
provision of cash crops we must have to consider the production of food crops.
R.Amalorpavanthan, Chief General Manager, National Bank for Agriculture and
Rural Development (NABARD) has called for new strategies to increase food
production in the country. According to him, despite having achieved surplus
production, India produces much lower than what it is capable of. The reason is
lower productivity ratio. A shift in technology wills catapults the country’s
food production and food grain exports. Kerala can be self-sufficient in
production of fruits and vegetables only if the right technology is tapped.
Technology is also available for preservation and product diversification”.
As already mentioned,
in Kerala, the reality is that not even one tenth of the paddy required for
consumption in Kerala is produced domestically. Therefore, agricultural
self-sufficiency in the state cannot be ensured without increasing the area of
cultivation, particularly that of paddy. And along with this increase,
productivity should be maximized in the existing land through effective
technologies. Modern technology could be used to combat the effects of climate
change. According to Dr. Siddique, Director Institute of Agriculture,
University of Western Australia, use of modern systems such as Geographic
Information System and Global Positioning System to assess environmental damage
is as important as diagnosing diseases. We blissfully ignore environmental
analysis as we are callous about the impact of environmental damage. We don’t
assess the climate sufficiently early. Making climate prediction at regional
level is important for making farming profitable.” Thus instead of reducing the
area and production of food grains, effective management of the existing
programs and the introduction of modern technologies in the agricultural sector are necessary to
tackle the problems of Kerala agricultural
pattern.
References
:
·
Economic
Review,(2016,vol.1)
·
K.N.Harilal &
K.K.Eswaran(2015),'Agrarian Question & the Local Government in Kerala', CDS
·
Monitoring and
Evaluation Division's report on 'An Analytical Study on Agriculture in Kerala,
Dept. of Agriculture', 2016.
·
Vishavjeet Chaudhary
& Gursharan Singh (2014),'What is the future of agriculture in India'.
·
K.Santhosh(2015),'Alter
crop pattern in Kerala'.
·
Shruthi Cyriac,
Vishishta Sam and Noami Jacob,'The PDS System in Kerala: A Review'.
·
Shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in.
