economics of on-farm development - Institute for Social and ...

Table 7.19: Productivity and gross income per acre <strong>of</strong> paddy and other crops in
Kerala, 1996-97
Crops
Productivity per Gross income Income from paddy as % <strong>of</strong>
acre" (Rs./acre) income from other crops
Paddy 819 4972 - --
Arccanut 86000 36980 13.44
Banana 5646 45451 10.94
Tapioca 7378 22133 22.46
Coconut 2319 11 J31 44.66
Rubber 463 22679 21.92
Pepper 126 . 11091 44.83
Cashew 316 8632 57.60
Vegetable 5960 58284 8.53
..
Note: • Productlvlty <strong>of</strong> crops IS expressed as kg. per acre except coconut and
arecanut, which are in numbers per acre.
Source: Estimated from OOK (1997).
From the table, it may be observed that the gross income from paddy per
acre is far below the gross income from other crops. For instance, the income
from paddy constitutes only 8 per cent <strong>of</strong> the gross income from vegetables, 11
per cent <strong>of</strong> the income from banana, 13 per cent <strong>of</strong> arecanut and 22 per cent <strong>of</strong>
income from tapioca and rubber and 45 per cent <strong>of</strong> the income from coconut.
Even when the net income from paddy is compared with that from other crops,
the alternate pr<strong>of</strong>itability <strong>of</strong> other crops cannot be disproved. This brings out the
importance <strong>of</strong> crop diversification in favour <strong>of</strong> vegetables and banana so as to
optimise the returns per unit <strong>of</strong> area. But, higher order <strong>of</strong> crop diversification in
irrigation commands is hard to come by in view <strong>of</strong> the technical constraints in
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the development, distribution and management <strong>of</strong> water in the irrigation systems
in Kerala. This necessitates a brief discussion on the important technical
constraints in irrigation projects in Kerala.
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