Kerala Trade (Rice)

Production Pattern

Although rice is the staple food of Kerala, the state experienced continuous decline in area under rice over the last two decades. The area under rice initially went up from 8.02 lakh hectares in 1965-66 to 8.81 lakh tonnes in 1974-75.  Thereafter, the area has been steadily declining. The area under rice fall to 2.76 lakh hectares in 2005-06.  The trend in area, production and productivity of rice for the period from 1975-76 to 2005-06 is given in the following table.

Area, production and productivity of rice in Kerala

The rice production in Kerala has gone through three identifiable phases over the period 1965-66 to 2004-05. In the first phase upto the year 1972-73, area, production and productivity were increasing.   The next 11 years upto 1982-83 exhibited near stagnation in production in spite of decline in area due to steady rise in productivity.  The third phase, since 1982-83, shows decline in production due to decline in area, although productivity was increasing. The positive effect of productivity has been over compensated by steady decline in the area due to conversion for non-agricultural purposes.

The year 2004-05 witnessed slight improvement both in area and production due to special efforts of the Department of Agriculture. While the area rose marginally from 2.87 lakh hectares to 2.90 lakh hectares, production went up from 5.70 lakh to 6.67 lakh tonnes. But their shift could not be maintained during 2005-06.