Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

indicated that the chief crop was classified while taking the extent of land. Nonetheless,
the transformation that Tirurangadi region has undergone is clear. There has been
substantial reduction of the paddy fields, and areas growing jack, mango and other timber
trees. Most of the other grains oil seeds, and pulses and even vegetables have disappeared
and new species like tapioca and cashew have appeared. Coconut and areca nut have
survived as cash crops, and most of the paramba crops are also cash crops. The figures do
not demonstrate the extent of mono-cultural production, which can be clearly seen in the
transformed lands, and also in many Parambas throughout the area.
The transformation into mono-cultural gardens is destroying the earlier distinction into
vayal, paramba, and purayidam. The distinction was based on an understanding of the
productive capacities of the environment, and appreciation of the biodiversity and
potentialities of production and the nature of the topography. The present tendency to
concentrate on commodities that fetch a price in the market has changed the parameters
of land utilization. The increase of alienation and sale of land has meant that any land
with the minimum facilities could be transformed into sites for commodity production.
This has meant that those who own a paddy field would transform the field into a garden
land, and those who own a paramba would remove all the trees there to develop it into a
garden or build a shopping complex. As pointed out earlier, this means that low-lying
land with riverside alluvial soil, ideal for food grain cultivation is transformed into
coconut gardens, which destroys the very possibility of the entire area being converted
back into a paddy field. The concept of the paramba as a mini-ecosystem that would
sustain the minimum needs of the people is also destroyed. Another feature of the
transformation is that once certain areas are raised into gardens by using the soil of the
surrounding areas, artificial pits are created where water is made to flow into, which
would mean that no cultivation is possible in such pits. Conflicts among the farmers have
also prevented the excess water from one area being diverted to another area.