Shifting Scenario of Labour Use in Paddy Cultivation in Kerala

A lion’s share of cost in agricultural production goes to labour. For labour-intensive crops like rice, wages alone contribute almost 40-50 per cent of the total cost of production. In response to the shrinking labour supply, agricultural production system has adopted various adaptive strategies. These include cropping pattern shifts to less labour-intensive crops, farm mechanization and use of chemicals. This study has analysed the changes in supply of labour and the adaptive strategies in a unique rice production system in Kerala. The results have shown a steady decline in the use of human and animal labour and the resultant substitution with machine power and chemicals in paddy production. Chemical weed control practices have substituted a sizeable women labour employment. The study has suggested that profitable farming can be attained only through the right mixing of hydrology, biology and mechanical technology.