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

Since the study area under reference is in Kerala, an attempt has been
made to review some <strong>of</strong> the studies, which are few and far between. dealing
exclusively with the one to one correspondence between irrigation and
agricultural development as well as the status and problems <strong>of</strong> irrigation sector in
the state.
2.4 Irrigation and Agricultural Development in Kerala
In Kerala, the importance <strong>of</strong> irrigation for agriculture development has not been
realised by the scholars, in view <strong>of</strong> the high intensity <strong>of</strong> rainfall, progressive
agrarian policies and the resultant commercialisation <strong>of</strong> agriculture l7
and
topography IS. There seems to be no established evidences to demonstrate that
irrigation has significantly influenced the agrarian prospects <strong>of</strong> the region 19
(George and Nair, 1982; Narayana and Nair, 1983; Kannan and Pushpangadan,
1989). Joseph (1984) examines the relative efficiency <strong>of</strong> cultivation under two
different types <strong>of</strong> minor irrigation projects in Kerala, lifts and cross bars, in terms
<strong>of</strong> input use, output, productivity and pr<strong>of</strong>itability. It is found that the output per
17 Varghese (1972) points out that redistributive public agrarian policies in Kerala dates
back to the 19 th Century and they had a significant role in promoting commercialisation
<strong>of</strong> the economy.
18 Kerala's terrain and topography prevented cultivation <strong>of</strong> its staple grain, i.e., paddy on
the hills and slopes which have been utilised for other crops, mainly cash crops
(Kieniewies, 1989 as cited in Tharakan, 1997). Mateer (1991) notes that at the
beginning <strong>of</strong> the 19 th century, Travancore, which was a larger exports <strong>of</strong> rice, had
changed into a net importer <strong>of</strong> rice by the last decades consequent to the import <strong>of</strong> duty
free rice. And the import <strong>of</strong> cheap rice discouraged investments in paddy and shifted
resources to commercial crops (Umadevi, 1984).
19 For a detailed discussion on the absence <strong>of</strong> one to one correspondence between
irrigation investment and agricultural development in the state, see, Chapter 5.
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