Our forgone green pastures

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, The earth, and every common sight… Apparell’d in celestial light,… It is not now as it hath been of yore;-

Wordsworth sounds an intimation on the mortality of our rivulets, babbling brooks, paddy fields and greenery, that have vanished into our recollections, and the consequent onset of heat-waves, sun-strokes, hitherto foreign to salubrious Kerala.

As schoolboys, we did observe green paddy fields all around. Crossing the green fields-swift-flowing waters, at times the benign, yet scaring rat snakes-was indeed an exhilarating, nay, rejuvenating experience. None of those things exists now, giving way to a concrete jungle, choking water channels, radiating atmospheric heat, aggravating at once drinking water shortage and water-borne infections. Rain water, in abundance we have, which could substantially mitigate the problem, is least harvested; flooding streets, it flows swiftly into the Arabian Sea.

We lament over the steadily increasing deficit in our rice production, and the more steadily decreasing area under paddy. These warning signals sparked off no serious thought, let alone concerted action. Our paddy fields shrunk to eight per cent of the gross cropped area, close to finishing point.

Surely, it was not for right reasons that we took offence at an Economist's tip-Kerala need not struggle to cultivate paddy; it would be cost-effective to import about 90% of its requirement. In a globalised environment it makes sense. Good economics, but too bad bionomics in the context of baffling problems of sinking water-table, making drinking water more and more unavailable, and soaring atmospheric temperature, less and less bearable.

Although paddy draws more water, paddy fields act as elixir of life. It's time we realize, production of rice to check our deficit-which in any case is bound to widen-is perhaps least of the considerations to insist on paddy cultivation.

A plethora of issues-economic, political, technological-shroud objectivity on paddy. How best can we sift chaff from the grain?

Farmers should have choice of their crops-suitable to the agro-climatic conditions-fetching an economic price, the bottom line. We cannot turn a nelson's eye to this. Apart from absence of a remunerative support price, indifferent crop insurance administration, and, worse still, erratic procurement system that takes the farmers for a ride, is the last straw on the camel's back.

Today, when price of every commodity goes up, we take it lying down, calling it inflation, a necessary evil for economic growth. But, when prices of agricultural produce go up-bringing cheer to the farmers, notwithstanding the parasitic middlemen-we get worked up.

And, how do we save our paddy fields? It is neither the absence of strong laws, nor the ineffective enforcement of existing ones, the real hurdle. Whatever paddy fields have been converted into coconut and rubber plantations, or for housing, there is no point crying over spilt milk. Let's try and conserve the available paddy fields.

It's indeed a Herculean task; but our choice Hobson's. In one Collectors' Conference in the early nineties, a joint verification by Revenue, Agriculture Departments to identify leftovers of our glorious paddy fields-bits and pieces here and there-peg-mark, and keep a record to protect the last surviving remnants, was suggested by this writer, (then Collector, Malappuram). While the illustrious Head of Revenue Department vehemently supported the idea, no worthwhile action to stem further depletion came from Government.

While we should insist that the existing paddy fields-which are like lungs to human body-should be protected and preserved like an endangered species, it is imperative that the farmer, who cultivates it at heavy opportunity cost, is amply rewarded for forgoing a lucrative option to move to cash crops, or better still be lured by the real estate boom. Why do we rue?

Heavily subsidised is farming, the world over. If only we conserve our natural community 'lawns', reservoirs of our rain water for the dry summer days, how better would our environment be-greener, cooler, wholesome!
(Author is a former IAS officer and can be contacted at kuruvilla john@yahoo.com)