Kerala has been a food deficit State for a long time now. Rice, which was the staple grain of its population, has made a smart comeback in the State, after a long hiatus. The falling trend in rice production has been reversed. Production and productivity of rice, which have been languishing for couple of decades, have now shown signs of growth.

But for the current year, agricultural production will almost directly depend on the extent and pattern of rainfall over the highlands, midlands and low lands of Kerala. Thankfully, the rains during the South-West monsoon have been bounteous, maybe a bit on the higher side, Dr P.V. Balachandran, Director-Extension of the Kerala Agricultural University, said.

In fact, the State received two per cent excess rainfall at 1,570 mm till August 10 against 1, 536 mm last year. Most districts received fair amount of rainfall. The rain should facilitate good agricultural production this year.

The area under rice cultivation in the State had fallen sharply from 8.7 lh (lh) in 1970-71 to 2.3 lakh h in 2007-08. Production also plunged from 13.5 lakh tonnes to 5.8 lakh tonnes in the same period. But a slow and steady recovery has been evident since 2009-10, when the area under rice had grown close to 20,000 ha and production had grown by 1.25 lakh tonnes.

Last year's production, for which no published figures are available yet, should also be higher, Dr Balachandran said. It is quite unlikely that it will be on the lower side. While there is no shift in area from cash crops to paddy, the area lying fallow has been dropping in the State. More panchayats are now declaring themselves to be fallow-free. These growth trends are expected to boost the area under paddy in the current year. Productivity of rice had grown from 2.3 to 2.5 tonnes per hectare.

But fresh challenges are being thrown at Kerala's rice production. High labour costs and militant labour had transformed paddy fields to fallow lands. The costs still remain high, Dr Balachandran said. Coupled with the spike in the cost of fertilisers and pesticides, paddy farming in the State was becoming prohibitive. On the positive side, he said that the remunerative support price of Rs 14 a kg was a major incentive for the farmers. But the payments are often irregular and delayed.

Against an annual production of seven lakh tonnes of rice, the State consumes 40 lakh tonnes.

Good rains also augur good times for several of the State's commercial crops. The early onset of the rains and intermittent nature has ensured that rubber production is looking up. High soil humidity and fair agro-climatic conditions are expected to boost coffee and tea production. Reports indicate that high production is driving down cardamom prices.

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