Rural Kerala Essay

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In general, during the last few decades people entering agriculture as an occupation in rural Kerala has reduced drastically. Only around 26% of the total rural population in the state now goes for agriculture as a line of work. Labor shortage, increased labor charges, and hikes in the cost of input are direct detractive factors. The growing apathy to cultivation of rice is an important thrust for farmers to gradually divert the water logged rice fields to drier and perennial crops such as coconut, areca nut or rubber. The state’s agriculture scenario has under gone a drastic shift in various aspects giving more importance to the cash crops than the cultivation of cereals. Thus annual production of rice in the state shows a trend of decrease, …show more content…

The transformation of rural to urban in Kerala usually happens by conversion of the rural agriculture lands particularly the rice growing wetlands, primarily because of the low market price for such water logged lands and the prevailing market forces do not appreciate the value of ecological services that such lands provide the community. Kerala has shown a consistent growth in population density. Urbanization always involve growth of infrastructure i.e., buildings, roads, communication facilities etc. In the case of Kerala the road network particularly is growing in rapid pace, although not much in its quality. Road development is single most critical factor that opens up any ecosystem or traditional practices for rapid changes. Infrastructure development demands considerable lands to be divested from its former original use. The high demand of independent houses due to the breakdown of the erstwhile joint family system also has lead considerable demand in diversion of lands, and the first victim is the wetlands or rice paddy, because of their low market …show more content…

Movement of the work force from agriculture to a diverse set of non-agricultural occupations has been occurring at a much faster rate in Kerala than in the rest of India from the early decades of the 20th century. According to National Sample Survey (NSS) data, by 2004–05, only 35.5 per cent of Kerala’s workers were engaged in agriculture, fishing and forestry, while the Indian average was 56.5 per cent. The vast expansion of mass education and the rapid growth in construction and service-sector incomes in recent years have boosted occupational diversification in Kerala. Between 1993–94 and 2004–05, persons engaged in agriculture and allied activities in the State declined by 879000, even as the total number of workers increased by 1605000 (NSSO 1997, NSSO 2006,Jayan Jose 2012). Such trends in Kerala’s labour market have had important implications for paddy cultivation in the State. The gap between investment and production made the cultivators away from rice cultivation, while the high job opportunity and attractive wages shifted the workforce to other lucrative construction

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