Structural Changes and Pattern of Agricultural Development in Kerala

Abstract

Structural transformation is a process by which the relative importance of different sectors and activities of an economy changes over time. The Kerala economy is also undergoing the transformation from traditional backward agrarian economy to a modern service sector led economy. The significance of the present study lies in the fact that the whole process of structural transformation of the Kerala economy has not so far been addressed in a detailed and comprehensive manner in the earlier studies. No specific attempt has been made to relate the pattern of agricultural development with the structural transformations in the Kerala economy. In this study, an attempt has been made to examine the structural changes and growth performance and pattern of agricultural development in Kerala economy. The study mainly covers a period of 1980-81 to 2010-11. The study has found that the share of primary sector in GSDP has declined sharply, but the corresponding decline in employment share has not taken place. Moreover, the excess labour force has moved from primary sector to secondary sector, thus causing abundance in secondary sector and there was only a meager increase in share of income from secondary sector in GSDP. The share of income from services sector in GSDP has increased sharply, but it failed to register a sharp increase in employment. Thus, it follows that Kerala did not experience a sequential growth process (as propounded by structural change growth theories) as the service sector led growth did not provide employment matching with its income and the process of industrialization failed to take off as share of income from secondary sector did not commensurate with the level of employment in the sector. The changes in land use pattern in Kerala were unprecedented during the past decades in terms of deforestation, increase in area as current fallow, increase in area under non-agricultural land, decrease in both net area sown and gross cropped area resulting in decline in cropping intensity. Irrigation intensity of only 20 per cent points that about 80 per cent of the cropped area is rain-fed. Kerala witnessed shift in the copping pattern in favour of non-food crops at the expense of food crops as crops such as pulses, rice, tapioca, cashewnut, ginger were replaced by commercial cash crops like rubber and coconut. The declining cultivable area, predominance of tiny and fragmented holdings, decline in work force in terms of reduction in agricultural labour and cultivator has made farming more vulnerable. Finally, the study has suggested some policy suggestions such as training to labour moved to secondary sector, keeping a check on the area under food crops, bringing more area under assured irrigation, strict law enforcing mechanism to avoid unnecessary conversion of agricultural land to non-farming activities, creation of ‘Labour Banks’ to revive agricultural economy of the Kerala.