Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
and these valuable commodities have at times been at the center of trade
wars.11 Throughout the state, rice has also been a traditional agricultural
crop, as well as a dietary staple.
Kerala is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west and the Western
Ghats mountain range to the east. Ecologists consider these mountains
one of the world's twenty-
five biodiversity hotspots.12 A lmost nine thou-
sand feet in elevation at its highest peak, the range is home to many large
fauna, including Asian elephants and Indian tigers. Biologists estimate
that 30 to 40 percent of the plant and animal species found in the Western
Ghats are endemic to the area.13 As a harbor of biodiversity, the moun-
tains have become a key policy concern for the state government.
Kerala only recently came into existence as a state. The newly inde-
pendent nation of India forged Kerala along linguistic lines (the Mala-
yalam language) in 1956, seven years after independence from the Brit-
ish Empire. Like other states, it was set up with a parliamentary system,
comprised of an elected assembly of representatives. The political party
that wins the majority of votes after elections assumes executive power
over the Assembly, organizes a coalition of allied parties in a “front,” and
selects a Chief Minister for the state until the next elections. In 1957 the
people of Kerala democratically elected a majority of Communist Party
representatives to the Assembly. This election was momentous because it
meant that the new state and political institutions were then designed by
the Communist Party to prioritize welfare reforms and the redistribution
of wealth. Various political coalitions over the following thirty years, led
by the Communist Party—the Communist Party of India (Marxist), in
later years—went on to implement a series of reforms to improve health
care, workers' rights, and education. Over two million acres of land were
also distributed to tenants under the state's land reforms in the 1970s.14
The Communists' successful political mobilization and their ascen-
dance to political power early in Kerala's history have roots in the pre-
vious societal structures and social protests of the region. The area that
is Kerala today covers three main historic regions: Malabar, the north-
ernmost area, which experienced direct British rule under the Madras
Presidency; and the two southern territories of Travancore and Cochin,
which remained independent kingdoms that maintained close ties with
