New norms for sand-mining soon

The State government is all set to pass an ordinance amending the Kerala River Bank Protection and Regulation of Sand-Mining Act, 2001, to bring in more severe punitive measures against illegal sand-miners. "Serial offenders involved in illegal sand-mining will be slapped with punishments including imprisonment and vehicles used for transporting sand will be seized," Revenue Minister K.P. Rajendran told The Hindu. The prevailing provisions of the Act proved inadequate to check the menace, he said.The Minister said that a permanent team comprising officials of the Revenue and Police departments would be formed at the district level under the direct supervision of the District Collectors.The team would be dedicated to the sole job of preventing illegal sand mining.Mr. Rajendran said that once the ongoing sand audit was completed a slew of measures would be adopted to revamp the present system to check illegal sand-mining and conserve the ecologically critical rivers of the State. "Based on a scientific environment study adopted under the sand audit, some of the prevailing sand ghats will be closed down while new ghats will be allotted wherever found necessary," he said.The Minister pointed out that illegal sand-mining could not be completely prevented in the State, as the demand for sand was far in excess of the supply.The State, Mr. Rajendran said, was considering two alternatives to put the economics of demand and supply of sand in order.The Irrigation Department was considering the scope for mining sand silted in the dams in the State as recommended in the budget presented by Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac. The second alternative was to bring in surplus sand from other States. "Already discussions had been held with Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Gujarat could be a major supplier," said Mr. Rajendran. Mr. Rajendran said that auctioning of the seized illegally mined sand would be gradually done away with since the sand mafia itself was found to be its ultimate beneficiary. The system of giving away sand to Nirmithi Kendra at a reasonable price as was being done in the districts of Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, and Kollam would soon be made the norm, he said.

The Hindu, 5th May 2009

Paddy production up

 
The crisis- hit farm sector in the state may have some reason to cheer with rice production lat season showing an increase. While the Economics and Statistics Department is yet to come out with the latest Agriculture  Statistics, the indications are quite encouraging. Paddy fields in Alappuzha,Palakkad and Thrissur yielded a good crop last season, Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran said.

Alappuzha put on a really good show, with Kuttanad yielding 1.37 lakh tones. Palakkad and Thrissur, especially the kole lands in Thrissur, also registered an increase", the minister said. Agriculture officials in Alappuzha put the figures at 1.37 lakh tones of paddy from 25,000 hectares in the Kuttanad region. This is 30,000 tonnes more than last year. While the compiled figures for Thrissur and Palakkad districts are not available yet, agriculture officials in Thrissur said that the paddy fields in the district, both Kole and non-Kole lands, have yielded on an average, between four and five tones per hectare. Paddy is cultivated in around 32,000 hectares in the district.

(The New Indian Express, 30th  May,2007)
 

Kerala rice production on decline

The area under paddy, the main food crop of Kerala, has come down significantly over the years, which had led to the State depending more and more on outside supplies to meet its domestic requirement of rice.

 

In 2005-06, the total area under paddy stood at 2.76 lakh hectares as against around 7.53lakh hactares in 1961-62. This means the State witnessed a decrease of 63 percent in paddy area over a period of 44 years, according to the latest report of the Department of Economics and Statistics.

 

The total production of rice has also come down in tandem: it stood at 6.3 lakh tones in 2005-06 compared to 13.39 lakh tones in 1981-82. Thus, over a period of 24 years, the rice production has fallen by more than 50 percent. At 6.3 lakh tones as on the last count it can meet only around one-fifth of the State's total annual consumption of 30 –lakh tones.

The area under paddy in 2005-06 was 21% of the total food crops are in the state and Palakkad district ranked first in terms of the cultivated area, followed by the Alapuzha district. On the other hand, there has been a rise in the area under coconut in the state. It increased from 5.05lakh hactares in 1961-62 to 8.98lakh hactares in 2005-06. Kozhicode district came first with 14.5% of the total area under coconut, followed by Malappuram, Pathanamthitta and Wayanad.

 

(The Business Line,30^th January,2007)