Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
and plantations made it “the scene of the 'wildest, maddest, and grossest
speculation'” under British colonialism, especially as the region faced
competition from the commercialization of raw materials from around
the world.22 In the nineteenth century, British investors and planters cre-
ated large-
scale teak, coffee, tea, and rubber plantations in the area, con-
tributing to Britain's economic power, trade, and infrastructure.23
After Indian independence, the newly formed Kerala state government
continued to promote the extensive cultivation of cash crops in Wayanad
by exempting many of the existing plantations from the ceilings imposed
by the land reforms and by promoting Green Revolution chemical inputs.
For example, Kerala's legislators exempt coffee from land reforms to pla-
cate the several, large-
scale coffee plantation owners who were bringing
foreign exchange into the state.24 Thanks to the creation of a real estate
market by the land reform laws, the cheap price of land in isolated areas
of Wayanad, and food shortages after World War II, the district also ex-
perienced several waves of immigration.25 Many of these setlers were
Indian-born Christians (who refer to themselves as Syrian Christians, de-
marcating their Eastern Christian religious roots) from southern Kerala,
who previously had litle access to land ownership as a result of historical
caste discrimination and political economic relations.26
With its extraordinary dependence on cash crops and chemicals com-
pared to other districts, Wayanad experienced Kerala's agrarian crisis
acutely. It had the highest number of farmer suicides of any district in
the state in the first few years of the century: 534 between 2001 and 2006,
largely as a result of agrarian distress.27 Of Wayanad's current residents,
90 percent depend on agriculture for sustenance, and they aren't grow-
ing rice: 80 percent of Kerala's coffee comes from the district, and it is
the largest producer of ginger in the state. Wayanad is also the second
largest producer of spices such as black pepper and cardamom.28 As the
state's Department of Economics and Statistics says, “The back bone of
the economy of this district is plantation crops.”29
Despite—or because of—this dependence on cash crops, Wayanad
has been at the forefront of Kerala's
certified
organic farming movement
for over ten years. Several leading organizations dedicated to certified or-
ganic agriculture are now based in the district.
