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Rubber prices rose to a record Rs123 a kg in Kerala after crude oil prices more than doubled in a year, according to Rubber Board, the government trade promotion body.
The state accounts for more than 90% of the natural rubber produced in India, the world’s fourth biggest grower.
The tropical climate in Kerala is ideal for rubber, helping growers achieve an average yield of 1,879kg a ha, the highest in the world. The area producing rubber has almost doubled to 494,400ha during the past 25 years, according to the Planning Board. Still, government curbs on converting paddy land for cash crops are forcing farmers to hold back.
Since 2002, the state government has required paddy farmers to obtain permission to put their farmland to other uses, though construction of houses is permitted in small plots.
The prospect of spending six months of the year knee-deep in brown paddy water for scant reward is encouraging rice farmers to abandon their land. About 2.5 million people, or a 10th of the state’s population, work in West Asia, where they help build apartments, hotels and offices.
The exodus has led to a tripling of wages for day labourers who stayed behind, and fuelled a building boom on drained paddy fields as engineers, surveyors and construction workers send money back.
At least 60% of the land traditionally used for rice in the Palakkad district, about 110km north-east of Kochi, Kerala’s largest city, has been lost to other crops and to the construction of homes, villas and shopping malls, said Jayachandran.
The share of agricultural land devoted to food crops, including rice, fell to 12.5% in the year ended March 2006, from 37.5% in 1981.
“The younger generation no longer wants to dirty his feet and hands working in paddy fields," says Jayachandran. “He prefers a job in a factory or a shop."
Vasu may well be the last rice farmer in his family. His 29-year-old son, who earned a diploma in electronics engineering, works in a cement company.
Still, Vasu said he could be tempted to resume rice farming if the government increased subsidies above the Rs160 an acre it pays, and provided cheaper fertilizer and pesticides.
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