Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
well, from black pepper to coffee, signaling widespread state government
support for an agricultural system based 0n Green Revolution principles.
Because farmers in Kerala have historically specialized in crops like
spices, the state's early government leaders encouraged farmers to grow
these agricultural products and promoted their widespread planting.
For example, the state's first major planning document after Indian in-
dependence, Kerala's Second Five Year Plan, explicitly expressed the
importance of commercial cash crop agriculture to the economy. (States
in India plan their budgets and activities in five-
year cycles, outlined in
Five Year Plans.) This plan called for seting up research and production
schemes to intensify cash crop agriculture throughout the state. Early
policy makers hoped that by improving the agricultural output of com-
modities like black pepper, coffee, and cashew nuts, the state could earn
more revenue through exports.37
Today, as a result of these agricultural intensification efforts, Kerala
has a predominantly export-oriented agricultural economy. Despite the
IADP's initial focus, the majority of Kerala's agricultural production is now
comprised of cash crops—grown to be sold, not eaten, by the farmers'
families. Between 1961-1962 and 2006-2007, the area under paddy culti-
vation in Kerala dropped by 65 percent. Eighty percent of the state's agri-
cultural commodities are currently sold to external markets.38 Kerala is
also the leading producer of several of India's commercial crops, including
black pepper.
Although scholars debate the reasons for Kerala's shift away from the
cultivation of rice—which was also supported by the state's Five Year
Plans—one ironic driving force behind the change has been the Green
Revolution. W hile this new agricultural program increased the overall
production of rice in India, it lowered the investment return for individual
rice farmers in Kerala.39 As mentioned earlier, people in the state, such as
George, the organic farming leader, have now nicknamed districts like
Wayanad (“land of paddy fields” in the Malayalam language) as Vazhanad
(“land of bananas”), because so much of the state's landscape has been
transformed to produce cash crops like spices and fruits instead of staples
like rice. During organic farming training sessions in Wayanad, George
