IMPACT OF THE KERALA CONSERVATION OF PADDY LAND AND WETLAND ACT, 2008 ON FARM ECONOMY: A SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
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Date
2021-12-16
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University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore
Abstract
The Kerala Conservation of Paddy land and wetland Act, 2008 was enacted to control the extensive conversion of paddy land in Kerala. A random sample of 160 paddyfarmers from Alappuzha and Kottayam districts was surveyed for the study. Bai-Perron
structural break analysis revealed that there was a break in paddy area and productionduring 2007-08, which coincided with the enactment of the Act. Although the compoundannual growth rate for paddy area was negative before and after the break periods, the rate of fall was diminishing as time proceeded. The fall in the growth rate in area after the Act (-2.52 %) was lower than the period before the Act (-4.40 %). Around 38 per cent of the sample farmers faced problems due to the Act, of which the major challenge was improper data bank entries that led to unnecessary spending of money, time and effort. Despite these
challenges, the sample farmers followed different rice-based cropping systems with proper government support as input subsidies, production bonuses etc. and earned reasonable returns. The government has extended all kinds of financial and production support to the paddy farmers in the area through different paddy promotion schemes and strictly monitoring the illegal paddy land conversions through committees at local, district and state levels. The rice-fish integrated cropping system was found to be the most profitable among the three systems, namely, CS-I (rice mono-crop), CS-II (rice-rice) and CS-III (rice fish). The rice-fish cropping system realized the highest net returns (Rs. 2,66,771 per ha) and returns per rupee of expenditure (2.52). Around 75 per cent of the farmers expressed that the land fertility and crop yield has increased after the Act implementation. Promotion
of rice-fish cropping system and implementation of public custom hiring units would augment the profitability of paddy in the study area.