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  • Category: General

    Kerala need not produce rice !

    People of Kerala, amounting to 3.3 crores, have rice as their staple food. Kerala is famous for its greenery stretched from the hilltops to the sea shores. This greenery is mainly due to the paddy fields spread in hectares of land. Our agriculturists and those who worked in these fields, fed all others and allowed to work in other areas.
    It was our fore-fathers who toiled day and night to feed us with our staple food and allowed us to grow and made fit to take up other jobs.

    Now our Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluvalia says that Kerala must convert its paddy fields into other purposes. That means we need not produce rice at all, we can go for complete exporting ! Wonderful ?

    These paddy fields are helping preserve rain water through out the year. It protects the environment, besides producing rice. Several rural people are still employed there and finding a livelihood, though the number is getting reduced due to several reasons.
  • #6011
    It was a shocking comment to most of us. Montek Singh Ahluvalia probably doesn't realize what he has blurted out! Paddy fields are almost on the verge of complete extinction here in Kerala. No one cares to cultivate in their fields and the coming generations are already on the run to level up paddy fields to suite their housing needs.

    We cant blame them completely there has been such a great downfall in the field of agriculture mainly due to the changing climatic conditions and shooting up costs of labor and other resources. Moreover the local farmers take in the blow when the imported rice marginalizes the local produces and their price decline. Altogether agriculture was already facing the bitter truth of decline and now Ahluvalia 's comment acts as a catalyst for the decline.

  • #6047
    First of all i like to see green paddy fields filled with paddy crops. It gives a pleasing atmosphere to all and is a nice scenery. Apart from that we can be proud that we eat what we cultivate and do not have to get it from others. Paddy fields are the biggest asset of Kerala, but now in many places, people use paddy field to construct houses and so the price for paddy fields have increased. Now more people will sell their paddy fields as they get more money compared to earlier.

  • #6051
    The worst reason is that people are not confident enough to cultivate paddy. They find it as a flop business and a menial job . Our outlook towards our culture have undergone radical changes since the British rule and today our culture and practices faces the extremity of alienation in its own land.


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