Impact of Ecological and Economic Factors on Rice Farming: A Case Study of Kanyakumari District

Abstract

Farming, particularly rice farming is adversely affected by unfavourable changes that happened in ecological and economic conditions of a region. Kanyakumari district is not an exception to this. Rice is the staple food of people of the district. The district was once called 'the Rice Granary' of erstwhile Travancore State. However, the present situation is completely different. Per year decline in the area under rice cultivation is 532.76 hectares between 1957-'58 and 1991-'92 and 1328.80 hectares between 1999-'00 and 2008-'09. If this tendency continues, there will be no rice cultivation in the district after 2025. Ecological factors make the income from rice farming uncertain and economic factors make rice cultivation non-profitable. So farmers quit rice cultivation; already 62 per cent quitted rice farming and 60 per cent of the remaining are ready to quit.