(vii) Manuring Paddy fields in the study area are of two types viz, the traditional paddy lands called elevated fields (pokkanilangal) and the fields reclaimed from water bodies since the late 19 th century called kayal lands. Compared to kayal lands soil in elevated fields is less fertile and in early days farmers used to apply cow dung and other organic manures only in such land. With the introduction of the New Agricultural Strategy chemical fertilizers like urea, factumfos and potash became popular in the study area. Even then some of the local farmers used to apply a mixture of powdered groundnut cake and bone meal once in every crop season before using chemical fertilizers. In those days manuring would start at early morning and three labour days were enough to apply fertilizers in ten acres of paddy fields. Depending on the financial capacity of farmers they used to apply chemical fertilizers two to three times in a single crop season. At present none of the paddy farmers use cow dung or any other farmyard manures in their fields but all of them apply chemical fertilizers and the average quantity of it exceeds 175 kilograms per acre. In addition to it about half of the local farmers use powdered lime in their field to neutralize the acidity of soil (kattappuli). Further a small minority of them also uses neem cake, which is regarded as manure as well as a pesticide. Manuring is done on piece rates and its cost varies from 80 to 100 rupees per acre.
