The supply shortages of labour and the resultant high wages are regarded as one of the major reasons for the poor performance of agricultural sector in Kerala. This paper has to looked into the labour-use pattern in rice farming in the state, based on the secondary data for a period of 28 years, from 1980–81 to 2007–08. The paper has analysed the labour substitution pattern, gender discrimination, cost structure and efficiency status. The analysis has shown a steady decline in human labour employment in rice farming, with a tendency to substitute it with machine labour and chemicals. The nominal wage rates and human labour cost have shown an increase over the years though the trend in real wages is not attractive from a supply-side angle. The gender discrimination in wage structure and employment pattern has revealed narrowing disparities. The social and technological interventions favour this. Similarly, the increase in labour cost is at the same pace of increase in returns realized from rice farming. However, the situation calls for adoption of appropriate measures to improve the efficiency of labour though better social, institutional and technological interventions, in the larger social interest of food security.
Agricultural labour, wage rates, labour efficiency, labour substitution, Kerala
