The Hindu Business Line : Self-sufficiency in vegetables

The Mararikulam Declaration for Self-Sufficiency in Vegetable Production is likely to start a revolution of sorts in Kerala’s small-scale agriculture sector.

K.G. Kumar

For a State that was primarily agrarian until recent times, strangely enough, Kerala does not figure much in discussions on agricultural revival or the agrarian crisis – except when there is a shortage in supply of rice and vegetables from neighbouring States.

So dependent is Kerala on imports from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to meet its huge consumer demand for foodgrains and vegatables that any move to augment the State’s own capacity to produce these commodities must be welcomed.

Thus it was encouraging to learn of last week’s initiative, announced at a workshop by Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, Local Administration Minister Paloli Mohammed Kutty and Cooperation Minister G. Sudhakaran, of around 300 representatives from 100 panchayats having adopted the “Mararikulam Declaration for Self-Sufficiency in Vegetable Production”.

Food security

The Declaration, which will anchor Kerala’s efforts to achieve food security in the foreseeable future, lists 16 resolutions that will form the foundation of a multi-pronged campaign to increase the State’s annual vegetable production from 10 lakh tonnes to 20-30 lakh tonnes.

The fact that the workshop was held in Cherthala, in Alappuzha district, home to Kuttanad, the erstwhile “rice bowl” of Kerala, was ironic. Today, the region has witnessed such a deceleration in the growth of agricultural output as has never been seen in recent years. The Mararikulam Declaration will seek to set things right, going by the enthusiasm of the Finance Minister.

The Minister said that the State government would set aside Rs.25 crore for projects under the campaign to make agriculture viable and profitable. , would be encouraged. The Kudumbasree movement of women’s self-help groups (SHGs) would be encouraged to start processing units for value-added agro products.

Kudumbasree would be transformed from a credit distribution agency to a vehicle for employment and income for poor women. A Vegetable Price Stability Fund would be introduced by local self-governing bodies while interest-free loans would be extended to joint ventures in commercial agriculture.

The campaign hopes to raise the vegetable cultivation acreage by at least 50,000 hectares through a combination of traditional and modern agriculture techniques, opening of vegetable sales outlets in all panchayats, district headquarters and major towns, and relying on the Government of India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme.

Women in centre stage

It is especially encouraging that women are being put centre stage in this new initiative.

According to the Economic Review 2007 of the Kerala State Planning Board, the Steering Committee on Agriculture and Allied Sectors for the Eleventh Five-Year Plan has pointed out that it is because women are not formally recognised as farmers, but are seen merely as helpers on family farms, that agricultural extension agents seldom contact women to promote official schemes and handouts. Existing institutions, including farmers cooperatives, are structured with male farmers in mind, both in terms of location and forms of interaction, notes the Steering Committee’s report.

The Mararikulam Declaration harks back to the ‘Harithashree’ programme, the lease land farming promoted by the State Poverty Eradication Mission, Kerala, through Kudumbasree, which helped women farmers cling on to agriculture for their livelihood. There are around 2.4 lakh families currently involved in the ‘Harithashree’ programme, which covers an area of 43,425.36 ha. The area under leased land farming increased from 23159.79 ha in 2005-06 to 43425.36 ha during 2006-07.

Experiments

According to the Economic Review, paddy, tapioca, other tuber crops, and vegetables are the major crops cultivated under lease land farming. Some enterprising groups are also experimenting with other crops like water melon and basmati and scented rice. Many panchayats are also promoting organic farming through their women’s groups.

Earlier, the Vegetable and Fruit Production Council, Keralam, was involved in the implementation of a vegetable and fruit promotion programme, which covered agricultural production, formation of SHGs, credit management and marketing.

Thus the movement that is likely to follow from the Mararikulam Declaration is in tune with the recent tradition of participatory involvement of women in productive sectors of the State’s economy.

This is all the more welcome since, this time around, the focus is on small-scale agriculture, which has long been neglected in a State that has modernised so fast into the information technology era that is appears to have forgotten its roots.

The writer can be contacted at kgkumar@gmail.com

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