Kerala Agriculture

Kerala, the State with network of azure backwaters, rivers and streams, boasts of an agrarian economy. The abundance of water due to the 34 lakes and other small streamlets, innumerable backwaters and water bodies and 44 rain-fed rivers flowing over the terrain of the state and also the adequate annual rainfall of 3000mm received by this state probably facilitates agriculture to a great extent and hence the economy of the state is dominated by agriculture. The most essential or the staple crop is the rice or paddy. About 600 varieties of rice are grown in the sprawling paddy fields of Kerala. In fact the Kuttanad region of the district of Kerala is known as the 'rice bowl of the state' and enjoys a significant status in the production of rice. Next to rice is Tapioca and is cultivated mainly in the drier regions. Tapioca is a major food of the Keralites. Besides production of the main crop, Kerala is also a major producer of spices that form the cash crops of the state. Kerala produces 96% of the country's national output of pepper. The important spices are cardamom, cinnamon, clove, turmeric, nutmeg and vanilla.

Other cash crops that constitute the agricultural sector include Tea, coffee, cashew, Pulses, areca nut, ginger and coconut. In fact coconut provides the principal source of income in Kerala- from coir industry to coconut shell artifacts. Cashew is also an essential cash crop. Kerala also accounts for 91% of natural rubber production of the country. Kottayam district has extensive areas producing and processing rubber. Apart from rubber, other plantation crop likes plantains or bananas are also grown in plenty.

Crop Management in Kerala.

Cattle, buffalo, goat, pig, poultry, duck are the major live stock population reared in Kerala. In Kerala as per 2003 census nearly 94% of the livestock population is concentrated in the rural area, 80% of the livestock farmers area marginal farmers and agricultural farmers. Women constitute 60% of the workers in this sector. As per 2003 figures, Kerala's share in all India cattle population is 1.13%, buffalo population accounts only for 0.07%, goat 1.01% and pig 0.05%. Cattle population in the state is 21.22 lakh, of which 17.35 lakh were crossbed. Of the total cattle population Palakkad district accounts fro 12.4% and Wayanad for 4.89%. Higher number of buffalo population is concentrated in Malappuram district (19%), goat in Thiruvananthapuram (12%) and pig in Idukky (30%). Regarding poultry Malappuram accounts for 13% fowls and Alappuzha accounts for 38% of ducks.

The demand for fish and fishery products are increasing considerably in the country, both in domestic and exports fronts. The major share of 5.34 million tonnes is expected from inland aquaculture followed by 3.10 million tonnes from marine fisheries (Planning Commission 2007). The global production of fish from aquaculture has grown rapidly during the past four decades (accounts for nearly 45 percent of the world's food fish). China account for 67.3 percent of the food fish aquaculture production followed by India (5.9%) and Vietnam (3.0%).

India is endowed with vast fisheries resources in terms of a coast line of 8118 km and 2.02 million sq.km of exclusive economic zone, including 0.53 million sq.km of continental shelf. The inland fisheries include rivers and canals (1.95 lakh km), reservoirs (3.15 million ha), food plain wetlands (0.30 million ha), estuaries (0.26 million ha), fresh waters (2.41 million ha) and brackish water bodies (1.24 million ha). These resources are one of the main sources of livelihood for the rural poor, particularly the fisher community. At present, an estimated 14 million people are engaged in fishing, aquaculture and ancillary activities in the country

The state has all the requisite natural endowments for building a strong and vibrant fisheries economy in tune with the national strategy. They include a stretch of coastal belt extending over 590 km and extensive inland water spread of around 4 lakh hectares. The exclusive economic zone ( sea spread up to 200 metres) lying adjacent to Kerala coast is spread over 36000 square kilometres which is almost equivalent to the land area of the state.

The estimated fisher folk population of Kerala is 11.114 lakh, which include 8.558 lakh in the marine sector and 2.556 lakh in the inland sector. There are 222 fishing villages in the marine and 113 fishery villages in the inland sector, where fishing and relative activities provide livelihood to a vast majority of the population. Alappuzha district is the first place in the number of fisher folk with a population of 1.86 lakh followed by Thiruvananthapuram (1.83 lakh).

Species -wise Composition of Fish Landing

According to the Kerala Marine Fisheries Regulation Act, the inshore Area coming within the depth range of 50 meters has been demarcated for fishing by the traditional fishermen using country crafts and the area beyond the limit in the economic zones can be utilized by motorized boats and large vessels. As this restriction is not being strictly followed, monsoon trawling has been banned from 1980 onwards as preventive measures. Although the fish catches from the Kerala coast include more than 300 different species, the commercially important number about forty only. The high value species among the fish catches are still few; prominent among them are seer fish, pomfret and prawn. Ribbon fishes are also now a target group. During 2006-07 the catch of Ribbon fish was 18000 tonnes. Unfortunately the share of these high value varieties in the total marine fish catch has been remaining stagnant. The annual potential of prawn is estimated by 64482 tonnes. The average catch of prawn during 2006-07 was 56779 tonnes. The catch of oil sardine, the most important variety consumes mainly by the poorer sections of the society exceeded the potential in recent years. The catch of sardine during 2006-07 was 2.15 lakh tonnes.

Species wise composition of Marine fish landings in Kerala (2004-2005 to 2006-2007) (Tonnes)

Species-wise Inland Fish Production in Kerala (2003-04 to 2006-07)

Trend in production

Among the maritime states in India , Kerala occupies the foremost position in marine fish production, accounting for about 20 % of the total landings. Marine capture fisheries have always dominated the total fish production, compared to Inland fisheries in Kerala. Fish production in the marine sector over the last 10 years presents more or less a stagnant trend with an average production of 5.88 lakh tonnes. The marine fishery resource of the state has almost attained the optimum level of production. In this context there is no scope for further increase in fish production for inshore marine capture fisheries. However, the total inland fish production has shown an increasing trend in Kerala. The inland fish production reached peak share of 13 % of the total fish production of the state during 2000-01 and thereafter decline slightly. At the national level more than 50% of the total fish production is contributed by the inland sector.

( Source : Economic Review 2007 )