Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
a) to delineate trends in agricultural land transition in Kerala and b) to identify socio-ecological
determinants of agricultural land use change in Kerala.
Methodology
Ten food crops viz. Rice, sugarcane, pepper, ginger, turmeric, cardamom, areca nut, tapioca,
banana and other plantains and cashew, and five non-food crops, viz. sesamum, coconut, tea,
coffee and rubber were selected for the study. Data on the area under food crops and non-food
crops were collected from the India stat website and of the department of economics and
statistics.
Results
The significant changes in the land use pattern of Kerala are the shift from cultivation of food
crops to non-food crops, increase in area under non-agricultural use and fallowing of
agricultural land. It is evident from Fig. that over the years, the area under food crops has
declined while that of non-food crops has increased. The area under food crops started
declining during 1970-71 and 1980-81, while the area under non-food crops during the period
started increasing. The area under non-food crops crossed the food crops in 1990-91. Similar
trend was observed during 1990-91 to 2000-2001. From 2000-01 to 2010-11, the area under
both food and non-food crops decreased, and from 2010-11 to 2019-20 the area under food
crops continued to decrease, and the area under non-food crops remained stagnant (Fig). The
agricultural land in the state has been converted for non-agricultural purposes like residential
plots, real estate assets and mining and quarrying. There is a massive leap in the land put to
non-agricultural purposes in the state. The land put to non-agricultural purposes, which stood
at 275000 ha. in 1970-71 increased to 455897 ha in 2019-20. (GoK, 2022). Another important
land
2000000
1500000
1000000
500000
0
1970-71 1980-81 1990-91 2000-01 2010-11 2019-20
Food crops
Non food crops
Fig: Area under food crops and non-food crops -Kerala
transition in the state is land fallowing. The land under current fallow, and fallow other than
current fallow in 1970-71 has increased from 24000 ha and 22000 ha to 57387 ha and 46931
ha, respectively in 2019-20 (GoK, 2022). Agricultural land-use decisions are mostly influenced
by social and ecological determinants. The major social determinants of farmland transitions
in Kerala are the conducive political power system favouring land reforms, dynamics of
Institutional and policy innovations for accelerated and enhanced impacts
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