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

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groWing dem<strong>and</strong> <strong>for</strong> food grains ls in the immediate post-war period. It was<br />

realised that there was a need <strong>for</strong> harvesting the abundantly available rainwater<br />

during the m<strong>on</strong>so<strong>on</strong> to increase cropping intensity <strong>and</strong> augment agricultural<br />

producti<strong>on</strong>.<br />

As already observed, the state is blessed with 44 rivers. Most <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the rivers<br />

are rainfed <strong>and</strong> are swollen during the m<strong>on</strong>so<strong>on</strong> <strong>and</strong> dry up during summer. The<br />

two seas<strong>on</strong>al m<strong>on</strong>so<strong>on</strong>s l6 , viz., "Edavapathy" (south-west) <strong>and</strong>" Thulavarsham"<br />

(north-east) together provide abundant annual rainfall <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the order <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> 3000 mm.<br />

However, like other parts <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the country, there are temporal <strong>and</strong> spatial variati<strong>on</strong>s<br />

in its distributi<strong>on</strong>. The south-west m<strong>on</strong>so<strong>on</strong> yields almost 70 per cent <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the<br />

annual rainfall <strong>and</strong> the remaining by the north-east m<strong>on</strong>so<strong>on</strong> (20 %) <strong>and</strong><br />

occasi<strong>on</strong>al rains (10 %) between these m<strong>on</strong>so<strong>on</strong>s. The distributi<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> rainfall<br />

differs across the regi<strong>on</strong>s in the state as it is uni-modal in the northern districts<br />

(Kannur <strong>and</strong> Kasargod) <strong>and</strong> bi-modal in the southern districts. But the effective<br />

rainfall l7 varies from 40 to 80 per cent between the northern <strong>and</strong> southern<br />

districts. The rest is lost through run<str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g>f <strong>and</strong> deep percolati<strong>on</strong> due to the<br />

15 The grow-more-food (GMF) campaIgn was galOlOg ground immediately after<br />

independence, which resulted in initiating investment programmes <strong>for</strong> irrigati<strong>on</strong><br />

<strong>development</strong>.<br />

16 The two m<strong>on</strong>so<strong>on</strong>s arc referred colloquially as Edavapatlwy <strong>and</strong> Thulavarsham.<br />

Edavapathy <strong>and</strong> Thulavarsham are <strong>for</strong>mally known as South-West m<strong>on</strong>so<strong>on</strong> <strong>and</strong> North­<br />

East m<strong>on</strong>so<strong>on</strong> respectively. While the Edavapathy spans from June to September,<br />

Thulavarsham is effective during October to December.<br />

17 Effective rainfall is the useful or utilisable rainfall. Rainfall is not necessarily useful<br />

or desirable at the time, rate or amount ill which it is received. Some <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> it may be<br />

unavoidably wasted while some may even be destructive leading to water logging.<br />

27

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