THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Agriculture in Kottayam, in the last few decades, has taken a sharper decline than other parts of the state, says the District Human Development Report that was adjudged to be one among the top four in the country by the Planning Commission and the UNDP a week ago.
Despite the favourable soil conditions, water availability, irrigation facilities and proactive institutional support for paddy cultivation, the area under paddy declined from 31,948 hectares in 1980-81, to 12.557 hectares in 2005-06, illustrating the major changes in the cropping pattern in 25 years. The report says that several farmers sold off their land to meet the costs of educating their children. More than one out of every five male workers was employed as an agricultural labourer in 1981. This declined to 10 percent in 2001. The case of women agricultural workers were even more pronounced. One out of every three female workers was employed as an agricultural worker in 1981 and this declined to 11 percent in 2001. “Food crops dominate in Vaikom, Kaduthuruthy and Pallom blocks, as also the western parts of Ettumanoor and Madappally blocks. Rubber is the major crop in all the other blocks, which are predominantly in the midland highland categories,” the report said. That rubber is what occupies more than half of the total cropped area of the district should come as no surprise.
Market trends, government policies and institutional support have contributed to theextensive growth of rubber cultivation in Kottayam. Apart from the high income from rubber, the owners are able to raise resources by pledging these rubber growing areas. The next most important crop, in terms of acreage is coconut with a share of 18 percent of the total cropped area.
While the economy has moved from an agrarian to a service-dominated one, animal husbandry and inland fisheries have also failed to ensure a sufficient income to depend on for a livelihood. The decline of agriculture has affected Kottayam in two ways - first its effect on food security and second, on the fragile ecological and environmental balance of the region.
The report pointed out that while the issue of food security can be managed by increasing food production elsewhere, the burden of the impact on the environment and ecology of the region cannot be shifted. Access to what were common property resources, which are either being enclosed or privatised in the name of promoting tourism, had been restricted.
The report took up the case of Kumarakom as a classical example, where several new buildings and resorts have come up on reclaimed wetland. The free flow of water has now been obstructed due to indiscriminate felling, levelling and construction.
Water in the region is contaminated and water-borne diseases are on the rise. Here too, the major victims are people on the margin, living on the coastal belt and low-lying areas. “In sum, the environmental and ecological impacts of the decline of agriculture and conversion of wetlands for non-agricultural purposes have affected the livelihood conditions and human development of the deprived sections,” said the report, prepared by K Narayanan Nair, K Navaneetham, G Gopikkuttan and C S Krishnakumar.