The Hindu Business Line : Agricultural revival

If measures such as the rehabilitation package announced by the Centre and the successful experiments with lease-land farming under the Kudumbasree Poverty Eradication Mission can be replicated throughout the State, Kerala's agricultural sector can expect a new lease of life.

Last week brought two developments that should spell good news for a sector that was once Kerala's pivotal axis but has since fallen into neglect - agriculture.

In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Planning M.V. Rajasekhran said that the Centre is working on a rehabilitation package for the four districts in Kerala that have been badly hit by an agrarian crisis. These districts are Wayanad, Palakkad, Idukki and Kasaragod, home to most of Kerala's plantations.

Even though Kerala's agricultural sector has recorded a growth rate of around 3 per cent in the recent past, it has been hamstrung by the steep fall in prices of most of the farm commodities. Kerala's agriculture sector is characterised by the predominance of cash crops, and the State is a major producer of coconut, rubber, pepper, cardamom, ginger, cocoa, cashew, arecanut, coffee and tea.

Tree spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves are also cultivated, while rice and tapioca are important food crops. As a major cash crop-producing State of India, Kerala has been particularly hit by the post-1990s agenda of trade liberalization adopted by the Union Government through its new and less restrictive import policies. The State government estimates that about Rs 6,645 crores have been lost to the State's exchequer due to the fall in prices of major agricultural crops.

Thus the Union Minister's announcement should perk up farmers in Kerala.

LEASE-LAND FARMING

The second development in the agriculture field related to experiments with lease-land farming under the Kudumbasree Poverty Eradication mission. According to a report in The Hindu, the mission has produced "heart-warming" results across the State. Last Thursday, the first day of the Malayalam month of Chingam, the Kudumbasree District Mission honoured 10 of the best panchayats from among the 84 panchayats where lease-land farming is a booming business.

Perhaps more surprising and revealing than the success of the experiment as such is the fact that lease-land farming is being carried out exclusively by women in families that are covered by the Kudumbasree programme. Their joint collaborative efforts at preparing the fields through sowing to harvest has resulted in the acreage under lease-land farming in Ernakulam District rising to cover a total of 3,853 hectares under 3,481 neighbourhood groups benefiting 38,929 families.

The crops that these women cultivate include paddy, vegetables, tapioca, ginger, turmeric, vanilla, jasmine, plantains and bananas and pineapple. The programme is going ahead with training in integrated fertilizer management, comprehensive agriculture planning, good agriculture practices and organic farming.

This is especially good news in the contemporary industrial era, when it is often forgotten that even today nearly half the State's population depends upon agriculture in some way or the other. According to official statistics, over the last decade, the total output from the crop sector has recorded an average annual growth 2.5 per cent.

Not very long ago, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during his visit to Kerala, promised to take "pragmatic, practical and tactical" steps to tackle the problems in the State's plantation sector. If measures such as the rehabilitation package announced by the Centre and the successful experiments with lease-land farming under the Kudumbasree Poverty Eradication mission can be replicated throughout the State, Kerala's agricultural sector can expect a new lease of life.

The writer can be contacted at kgkumar@gmail.com