dc.description.abstract |
Kerala, the green stretch, in the south west cost of India, is delineated
from other states by Western Ghats stretching around six hundred kilometers of its
Eastern boundary. These hill ranges creates an exclusive climatic conditions in this
land. The soil and whether factors have lead to diversity of plant population and
also the crops cultivated here. Like other states of India, the crop loss and
consequent economic crises occur in Kerala farming also. However the root causes
of the crises are different here compared to other states. There it happens as a
results of flood, droughts and storms where in Kerala the economic loss results
mainly from pest and disease incidence, land slides etc. Kerala is well known for
the production of spices and plantation crops. In last two or three decades the
commercial cultivation of vegetables also was started in the state. Still a major
portion of state's requirement of vegetables are met by products from neighbouring
states. The government through its Department of Agriculture and the Vegetable
and Fruits Promotion Council of Kerala are trying to increase vegetable production
in the state. It was in this context, the present study was undertaken with the
objectives such as identifying the different crisis situations encountered by
commercial vegetable growers, identifying the methods of adaptation in these
crisis situations, rationality behind those methods of adaptation and finally the
perception of commercial vegetable growers about the external intervention of
developmental agencies in crisis situation.
The study was conducted in Ernakulam district which was a traditional
vegetable growing area. More over the activities of Department of Agriculture and
vegetable and fruits promotion council of Kerala was in progress for the promotion
of vegetable production. A two stage sampling technique was used to select three
panchayats for the selection of respondents. From the selected panchayat fifty
vegetable growers each were randomly identified and they formed the respondents.
Data were collected with the help of a pretested and well structured
interview schedule.
The crops selected were Bitter gourd (Momordica), Snake gourd
(Trichosanthus anguina), Oriental pickling melon (Cucumis melo), Ash gourd
(Benincasa hespida), Cowpea (Vigna anguiculata var. sesquipedalis). Data was
collected classifying crop wise and season wise. The data regarding methods of
adaptation were delineated as anticipatory measures, measures for mitigation and
contingent measures. The rationality of the methods of adaptation was studied by
the rating from three groups of respondents which included scientist, extension
personnel and progressive farmers. An index was developed for measuring the
level of adaptation.
The salient findings are as follows:
The commonly adopted anticipatory measures by farmers to insulate
themselves from the impact of a possible economic loss were mixed cropping in
vegetables, crop diversification with perennial crops, crop rotation with seasonal
crops, crop diversification in annual crops, vocational diversification by other
enterprises, vocational diversification by other jobs, adjusting planting time to get
yield during high demand season and minimising hired labour by employing
maximum family labour.
The measures taken by the majority of farmers for mitigating the impact
of an already occurred economic loss in a crisis were compensating for the loss
with the profit from other crops, loan renewal, obtaining new loans on land and
gold mortgage and government subsidies. The unexpected price fall was tackled by
the contingent measure of pooling the produce from neighbouring farmers and
transporting to distant markets. Majority of the respondents reported that VFPCK
was intervening in the crisis situations. Only a minor section of respondents
reported that Department of agriculture was making interventions. With regard to
effectiveness of interventions majority were of the opinion that both the agencies
mentioned above were effective in making interventions. With regard to the level
of adaptation, majority of the respondent belonged to the category of medium level
of adaptation. |
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