Working Paper No. 220 AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF KERALA FROM 1800 AD to 1980 AD: A SURVEY. OF STUDIES B.A. PRAUSH* "Reader, Department of Economics, (Dr. John Mathai centre) University of Calicut and presently U.G.C. Fellow at Centze for Development Stuc;.es. CENTRE FOR DEVELOPMENT STUDIES ULLOOR, TRIVANDRUM - 11 June 1987 A(RICULT"!lAL DEVELOFMENT OF KE' .' 'LA FRCM 1800 AD "o 1980 AD: A. SURVEY OF STUDIES This paper attempts to survey the published literature on picultural development of Kerala covering a period between 1800 AD nd 1980 AD. The Survey covers botn academic studies as well as pvernment publications. The purpose of the survey is to highlight '+nature and trends in literature and to identify areas which warrent ether research . kgri cultura 1 development may be viewed from various qles.u We may see it in terms of structure of production relations r in terms of productive forces, i .e., in terms of output, cropping ?ttern, techniques, trends in productivity etc. In our survey we itw agricultural development in the second category i.e., productive Cces. In order to get a connected picture of agricultural develop- ct, we present the survey in a chronological order starting from the th century. Among the erstwhile princely states of Travancore, Cochin, blabar district and Kasargod taluk of South Canara district forming the @sentday Kerala, our survey is confined only on Travancore and t labar. The survey is presented in five sections: I, agriculture a 1800 AD; 11, agriculture between 1800 AD and 1860 AD; 111, agricul- re between 1860 AD and 1930 AD; IV, agriculture from 1930 AD and 1956 AD; and V, agriculture from 1956 AD and 1980 AD.' In each section lirst we present a brief review of developments in agriculture and the pvey of literature is presented subsequently. The erstwhile Malabar district of Madras Presidency compria ing the northern region of present day Kerala, having an area of about 6262 square miles was conquered by the British in 1792 andrrrs under colonial rule till 1947. Malabar was a region richly endow84 with natural resources such as soil, climate, rainfall etc. fsvourtblm 2/ to the cultivation of grain crops and plantation crops. Agriculture was the chief economic activity of the people and provided livelih@l to the entire population except for a few who were engaged in trade, commerce, cotton weaving, carpentry, smithy, fishing etc. The crops cultivated were paddy, coconut, tirecanut, pepper, cardamom, ginger, jack fruit, mangoes, plantains etc. Paddy was the principal crop hi. produced rice, the staple food, mainly meeting the domestic foodryui ments. Paddy was cultivated in . iiwlying wet lanc; and the cultivcti, was mainly carried out with the help of rair 2xcept in a few placrc in Palghat region where small tanks and reseqvoirs were available. it Traditional farming implenents such as woodeq plough was used for wl- ,: ,: g, tivation. Coconut was the second major CrQp. Coconut and coconut products were used for domestic consumption as well as for exports. Coconut and coconut products were the secoi7d largest export earner ef Malabar accounting for about 37 per cent of the value of exports in 1804 AD. Pepper, the native crop of Malabar attracted foreigners k Malabar from very early times. The power struggles waged by the Portuguese, Dutch and English in the regiob were primarily with tho objective of mnopolising pepper trade. By the beginning of the 19th Cectur) pepper was the sicql 12rgest. export .rner of Malabar accounting for 45 percent of the total value of exports.k/ NC do not have much information about t5? pr. ?uctivity of the major crops. But from the available evidences we have to conclude that the productivity of the crops was generally low. Among the agricul'tural products, pepper, coconut and its byproducts, cardamom, ginger, timber etc. were exported; and the aoricul tural products accountedu for about 99 percent of the total value of exports in 1804 AD. Our information rbeut the categories of livestock for the period is meagre. According tr Buchanan, Bulls, Bullocks, Cows, male an'd female Buffaloes were the El important native cattle stock of Malabar. The native cattle were feund to be of poor breed and smaller in size compared to the cattle of Coimbatore and Mysore. Malabar was largely a nonmonetised economy rnd most of the transactions that had taken place were by barter except the transactions in trading centres. This along with the lower demand !er agricultural products res~ltedin low prices for agricultural The colonial policy of extracting the largest share of agricul- Y 1_0/ tural produce as land tax; and strengthening the landlordism in Malabar rrd adversely affected the cultivation. Besides, the policy of importing large quantities of piece goods and other consumer goods discournged , the domestic Cottage industries. The policy of taxing skilled workers luch as carpenters, ironsmi ths, toddy tappers, boatmen and implements like looms, oilpresses, fishing nets, carts etc. also discouraged gene- :ation of productive activities and employment outside the agricultural Icetor. 12/ We may also brtef ly describe th,e agricultural situation which cevai led in Travancore. The rerstwhi le princely state of Travancore for~ingthe southern part of present day Ker~13,having an area of 7662 sousrcr niles. vcr: cr..:zwr:d ,v~thC~v~~r~h'l~ ?q-~-~lj.p~+ic condi- 'tions most suited for tile qro:itCI of a varicty of crops. On the basis of physical features r.le mnv clividc Travancorc into three divi- sions viz., low ltnci <ii~lsj.rin,;rid lznZ division and high land divi- 13j sion. irgriculturrs was tile chief oconomic activity of the people ad provided livelihood to the entire population except the few engaged in religious prof cssions, rrnavlng ar,d spinning, pottery making, car- pentry, masonry, smithy, trscle, -trrnsport, commerce et~. The crops cultivated were paddy, coconut, aracanut, pepper, ginger, jnck fruit, mangoes, plantai~setc. Pcdrfy, the principal crop was cultivated in two paddy :rowing regions viz., "Atanad cnd Nanjar~adregion were In/ irrigation facilities were available. Cocc?ui;, was the second mjer . .. crop, ar.? 2;;:. 2-1:. .,,I.: .. .. c~~;ccntrntcdin low land and midland dl isions. Besides usin it for dornestic -ansumption, cocanu: I and its byproducts vrerc cxportej. tcl foreign r.crkets. Pepper was anetla:. major crop, and pc! r.e-..l. ,I.~.!kcn cxportc.2 ta f;:-l,n nnrkets from wry early times. A peculiar f c:.ture ~f cultivation of pepper vine was it; smallscale nature of cul.tltfa.tion. The peasants grew a little pepper vine in their ~ardenfzncl alcr.!, with other crcps. hlonopolising pepper trade was the primary ot5ect.i~~cf the ffareiqners who came to this region anci 'ihc car liest re1;ltions b?t:vecn t.hc Sritish and Travancore state wcrc estcblithcrl 08i the basis oi pcppcr contract. Due to the importance of the crop, gover nmer t treated pepp6r, cardomom and other spices as state rnonopo?.ies and the cultivators viere forced to sell their products to governrent. By 1800 AD, Travancore was largely a non monatised econory and rnqrct of t5c trrinsactions were made on barter basis. Compared to Ma: ~Sarthe policies pursUzd in Travancore were 15/ diif e:er,i;, eventhough Travancore accepted Bri Liz'. cuzaralnty it1 'i795. In the process of subjugation of chieftains and extending the terri- torial boundaries, about one half of the cultivable land came under the 16/ ownership of the state by the end of the 18th Century. About half af the government lands were in the hands of tenants, who enjoyed 17_/ fixity of tenure. The moderate land tax levied and the liberal policies aimed at safeguarding the interests of actual cultivators were helpful for agricultural development. The earlier rulers also took keen in- terest in irrigation and two dams were already constructed prior to 1800. Thus in Travancore, the material conditions as well as the policies p~i'suedwere much aiff erent from that of Malabar. This dif f- erence was the basic fcctor which led to two different patterns of agri- , cultural development in the two regions in later periods. Having made o ti-ic.; raviclv of .;he agricultural situation, let us attempt a survey of literature. The major source of information about rgriculture of Malabar during the beginning of 19th century are official reports, prepared by colonial government as part of the exercises of administration. Most of the reports were on matters such as land revenue, revenue administration, land tenures and other problems of colonial administration. Amng them, the reports which give some infromation about agriculture are: Report of Joint Commission (1551, Francis Buchanan (164)~Thomas Warden (1581, Walker (1 56) and Thackery (157) The report by Buchanan, who visisted Malabar in 1800 AD at the instance of the colonial government, is the mast important report which gives graphic Us a lot of informatian about Malabar. The report presents~accountof the statc of .the LCGiiOriTj ..il;d a~c-iet)I;L 2vciiir.g in 1800 AD. The report gives detailed aescriptive account of iand ownership structure, land tenure, land tax, crops cultivated, cultivation practices, irri- gation, cattlestock, trade, cottage industries etc. From Bcchanan, one gets an excellent account of the agrari'an relations existing amny landlord, tenant and agricultural slaves. Though we have a number of historical works on Malabar coveriq the period, only very few have dealt with agriculture. A study which. makes some observation about agriculture is that of A.Dasgupta (1 08). Though the study focuses on the struggles of foreign powers to gain control over pepper trade between 1740 and 1800, the study gives a brief accou-t of pepper cultivati~?,the .role of traders and policieg of native rulers on pepper cultivation.