The Hindu Business Line : Reclamation of paddy fields takes its toll

Reclamation of paddy fields and wetlands in a consumer State, which has to depend on other States for more than three-fourth of its food grain requirements, not only deprives the State of its potential for rice production but also inflicts serious damage to the ecological system.

All these conversions of paddy fields and wetlands are in the name of developmental projects and for raising multi-storied residential flats, a highly lucrative real estate business, said an environmental activist.

Around 100 acres of paddy field at Aranmula in Kerala’s Pathanamthitta district is said to have been reclaimed already in the name of setting up of an airport and an equal area is likely to be filled up in the coming days.

Similarly, for setting up an airstrip in Kottayam, less than a distance of 100 km from Aranmula, hundreds of acres of wetland system, including paddy fields, are being considered for reclamation. A Kottayam-based nature society has already come out urging the district authorities to exclude highly vulnerable wetland ecosystems earmarked for the airport, which are habitat of tens of thousands of birds.

Another area being considered is over 500 acres of paddy fields in the Neendoor Panchayat in the outskirts of Kottayam. Already vast expanses of the Vembanad Wetland System included in the National Lake Conservation Project by the Union Environment and Forests Ministry have been reclaimed, shrinking the total area significantly, the greens group pointed out.

Meanwhile, a bird watchers’ group in North Malabar has appealed to the Chief Minister to initiate steps to stop the move for large-scale reclamation of Kattampally, identified as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by Indian Bird Conservation Network (IBCN) and Birdlife International (BLI).

According to them, “work on an Ayurveda health resort has commenced on a 15-acre plot near Varam Kadavu that forms part of this wetland.” In fact, the filling up of vast stretches of paddy fields and wetland systems which are in many cases the “flood plain areas” and natural reservoir helping to recharge the water flow into rivers, negatively affects the ecological system, biodiversity experts pointed out.

The State Biodiversity Board sources told Business Line that intangible services of the eco-system cannot be expressed in money terms. In fact, tropical forests and wetlands are more complex systems with higher biodiversity value and, hence, their average ecosystem services would be worth 6-10 times more, they said.

In fact, the area under paddy cultivation in Kerala has declined from 2.76 lakh ha in 2005-06 to 2.64 lakh ha in 2006-07 and it is said to have dropped further close to 2 lakh ha now, official sources pointed out. Consequently the rice production is estimated at around 6 lakh tonne.

Surprisingly, all this happen despite the existence of the ‘Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Bill, 2007’ to regulate illegal and vast reclamation of paddy fields and other wetlands, indiscriminate mining from the paddy fields and to improve the overall ecological condition of the State, they said.

The Bill says that the area under paddy cultivation in Kerala has undergone a drastic decline from over eight lakh hectares in early 1970s to nearly two lakh hectares in 2000, they added.

According to the latest Economic Review, out of a total geographical area of 38.86 lakh ha, net sown area is about 54 per cent. Forest occupies around 28 per cent. Agriculture and forest sectors together account for over 82 per cent of the land area.

There was no perceptible improvement in the extent of land use for agriculture. In fact, net sown area is declining over the period. Land under non-agricultural uses was 9.10 percent in 1999-00 and has increased to11.29 per cent in 2006-07. There was an increase in the area undercurrent fallow (11485 ha) and an increase in the area under fallow other than current fallow (1973 ha) during 2006-07 over 2005-06.

The area under cultivable waste also increased by 24155 ha. and barren and uncultivated land declined by 332 ha.

The Kerala Environment Congress (KEC) 2007 has recently said that the wetlands in Kerala are currently being subjected to acute pressure owing to rapid developmental activities and indiscriminate utilisation of land and water.

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