Food Projection for Kerala State upto 2001 AD

food decreases, its indirect demand increases as increasing milk and meat demand extends in turn a demand for cereals as livestock feed”.
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The sluggish pace of growth of industrial development coupled with high population growth rates in many less developed countries (LACs) has made it clear that for quite sometime agriculture will have to continue to provide employment to many in LACs
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. Agricultural sector of these countries has a latent capacity to absorb more labour. This condition is of vital importance in a state like Kerala where the performance of the industrial sector had so far been dismal and the rate of unemployment is as high as 20 percent. Compared to garden crops and plantation crops, paddy crop is more labour intensive. The percentage share of labour costs in the per hectare cost of paddy cultivation is estimated to be around 65 percent while in the case of coconut crop it is only about 50 percent. The proportion of hired labour use in paddy cultivation is also found to be comparatively higher. The revival of the state’s paddy farm sector will definitely help to reduce the mounting problem of rural unemployment in the state. Thus in many respects the overall development of the state’s economy is closely related to the development of its paddy farm sector.
1.3 Kuttanad Region and the State’s Rice Economy
Kuttanad region comprises often taluks spread over the three districts of
Alapuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta. More than two thirds of the total land area in this region is wetlands. Enriched by the silt deposited through the river systems of
Meenachil, Pamba, Manimala and Achencoil, the loamy soil in this region is very fertile and suitable for paddy cultivation. As the wetlands in Kuttanad are submerged in water for most part of the year and due to poor drainage facilities annual and perennial crops cannot be successfully cultivated in these lands. Hence from early days paddy farming had become the principal economic activity of the local population. According to 1991 census, 11.3 percent of the total workforce in this area was paddy cultivators and another 57.13 percent were agricultural labourers. Thus
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Menasha JV How Important are Changes in Taste - State Level Analysis of Food
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