situation emerged throughout the country. Naturally food scarcity led to a sudden and abnormal increase in the price of paddy. To control the situation
government introduced the levy system of compulsorily collecting a portion of their produce at a fixed price from paddy farmers. These sorts of controls led to the emergence of black marketing and the large farmers in kayal lands exploited the situation The widespread use of electric pump sets from 1940 onwards in kayal lands further reduced dewatering costs and acted as a boost for reclamation activities. During the early years of the s three
segments of kayal lands viz,
Chithira, Marthandom and
Rani were reclaimed. The attached labour system that prevailed in Kuttanad in those days had been providing cheap and regular supply of labour needed for reclamation activities in the Vembanad lake. By the year 1943 this system gave way to wage labour system and henceforth reclamation efforts came to an end. During
the third phase of reclamation, which lasted for four decades more than 5000 hectares of land were reclaimed from the Vembanad lake.
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