Sub-Marginal Rubber Cultivators: A Study of livelihood issues of beneficiaries of ‘Rubber to the Poor’ project of Malanad Development Society, Kanjirappally P. K. Kurien Discussion Paper No. 32 2001 Kerala Research Programme on Local Level Development Centre for Development Studies Thiruvananthapuram 1 Sub-Marginal Rubber Cultivators: A Study of livelihood issues of beneficiaries of ‘Rubber to the Poor’ project of Malanad Development Society, Kanjirappally P. K. Kurien English Discussion Paper Rights reserved First published 2001 Editorial Board: Prof. P. R. Gopinathan Nair, H. Shaji Printed at: Kerala Research Programme on Local Level Development Published by: Dr K. N. Nair, Programme Co-ordinator, Kerala Research Programme on Local Level Development, Centre for Development Studies, Prasanth Nagar, Ulloor, Thiruvananthapuram 695 011 Tel: 0471-550 465, 550 491 Fax: 0471-550 465 E-mail:
[email protected] Url: http://www.krpcds.org/ Cover Design: Defacto Creations ISBN No: 81-87621-34-6 Price: Rs 40 US$ 5 KRPLLD 2001 0750 ENG 2 Contents 1. Introduction 5 2. Panackachira Colony and the Involvement of MDS 10 3. Evolution of rubber cultivation in Kanjirapally: An overview 21 4. Rubber in sub-marginal holdings 29 5. Conclusions 55 Appendix I 59 Appendix II 63 References 64 3 4 Sub-Marginal Rubber Cultivators: A Study of livelihood issues of beneficiaries of ‘Rubber to the Poor’ project of Malanad Development Society, Kanjirappally P. K. Kurien* 1. Introduction Environment and biodiversity became topics of serious discussion in Kerala by the late 1980s. A debate began for the first time since the introduction of extensive cultivation of various cash crops in Kerala, on the wisdom of concentrating on the cultivation of non-food crops, particularly since Kerala is chronically a food-deficit State.