Date:02/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/02/stories/2008100252910300.htm

Kerala - Kochi

‘Many factors force farmers to leave land fallow in State’

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: A variety of factors, including rise in land value and the subsequent change in the pattern of land use, the investment preferences of the neo-rich and the shortage of farm labour, have forced the marginal farmer to leave his land fallow, K. Jayakumar, State Agriculture Production Commissioner, said.

Speaking at an interactive session organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Tuesday, Mr. Jayakumar said that “leaving the land fallow was no longer fashionable but a necessity,” since the farmers felt that it was better than investing in agriculture and incurring loss. He said that with the relatively small agriculture land holdings typical of the State, farming slowly became uneconomical. “The farmer found it difficult even after discounting the value of the labour,” Mr. Jayakumar said.

The investment preference of the neo-rich like building marriage halls and shopping halls was cited as another reason for the fall in the area of land under cultivation. “All these added pressure on land in the State,” he said.

Mr. Jayakumar said that rubber as a commercial crop was eating into other areas of production, and as a result the multi-crop system was slowly giving way to the mono-crop system in many areas. He proposed high-value farming as an option to retain farmers in the field. Mr. Jayakumar said that many initiatives of the Agriculture Department were half-hearted. The Agriculture Export Zone scheme implemented a few years ago was a complete failure.

The European community-funded markets set up in different parts of the State as a price stabiliser and to ensure open market access to farmers through auctions also failed to fulfil their purpose, he said.

Except for the Vegetable and Fruit Promotion Council, Keralam, which succeeded fairly, the picture was a “distressing one,” he said. Though vegetables and flowers worth crores of rupees are being exported from Kerala every year, the State had no rightful claim over it , Mr. Jayakumar said.