Labour Issues: A Major Concern of the Agricultural Sector of Alappuzha District, Kerala

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume II, Issue II, February 2018 | ISSN 2454-6186

Labour Issues: A Major Concern of the Agricultural Sector of Alappuzha District, Kerala

R.Maniyosai, Antony Kuruvilla

  Department of Geography, Government Arts College ( Autonomous) Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract- Agriculture includes all activities done by a farmer, who is engaged in agriculture or farming which is done on a farm as a conjunction with such farming operations, including preparations for market, delivery to storage or to market or to carriers for transportation to the market. Farmer’s activities include farming in all of its branches and the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying. These activities depend on the labour force. Farming activities, especially wetland farming, need huge supply of labourers. Alappuzha district in Kerala is known as the “Granary of Kerala” because of the abundance of rice cultivation in this part of the state. Mechanization is not possible in the district due to Geographical as well as financial constraints. So it does not suit to the geographical conditions of the wetlands of the district. Here famers are forced to depend on human labourers. So the availability of labourers, their wages, their attitudes are important in the agricultural activity of the district. Unfortunately Alappuzha district is facing certain problems on the basis of labourers. The problems associated with their availability, mobility, wages, compensations are major constraints faced by the farmers of the district. The problems incurred by the labour force are not only affecting the farming activity but also they are affecting the land use pattern of the district. They even lead to the increase of the cultivable waste land of the district.

Keywords- Labour Force, Labour mobility, Labour bank, Illegal wage, Cultivable waste land

I. INTRODUCTION

Land can be used for agricultural and non agricultural activities. Agricultural land use includes the land used for agricultural activities. Agriculture is “the deliberate effort to modify a portion of Earth’s surface through the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock for sustenance or economic gain”. (Rubenstein, J.M.) It includes all activities done by a farmer, who is engaged in agriculture or farming which is done on a farm as a conjunction with such farming operations, including preparations for market, delivery to storage or to market or to carriers for transportation to the market. Farmer’s activities include farming in all of its branches and the cultivation and tillage of the soil, dairying. It also includes the production, cultivation, growing and harvesting of any agricultural, aquaculture, floricultural or horticultural commodities.

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