ISSN 2360-7971
Abstract
Accepted 7th November, 2016
Kerala has the total geographical area of 38.86 lakh ha and accommodate 2.76 percentage of India’s population. According to the 2011 census, total population in Kerala is 333.87 lakh consisting of 160.21 lakh males and 173.66 lakh females. Almost 52% of the population lives in rural area and majority of the population are non agricultural labours. Agriculture in Kerala is characterized by small land holdings and exhibited a shift from food crops to cash crops in the last few years. Around 90% of the net cropped area of 20.72 lakh Ha is dominated by plantation crops like rubber, coconut, tea and cardamom. Out of the gross cropped area of 26.62 lakh. Ha food crops like rice, pulses, minor millets and tapioca occupied only 10%. The share of agriculture and allied sectors in GSDP has declined from 9.51 percent in 2012-13 to 8.83 percent in 2013-14. Kerala’s agricultural economy has undergone a structural transformation and subsistence crops like rice and tapioca switched on to more remunerative crops. Therefore kerala is remaining as a food deficit state and depending on neighboring states for food grains. The study encompasses the trend in acreage, production and productivity of rice in kerala.
Keywords: trend in area, production and productivity, food security, self sufficiency, sustainability.