Agrarian Distress and Changing Rural Livelihoods in Kerala

India is primarily an agrarian society and agriculture plays an important role in the country's economic development. In recent years, the sector has been recording a negative growth in the country especially in Wayanad, Kerala. This book gives an overview of the agrarian distress in Wayanad and the ways it affected the livelihood of cultivating households and also the socio-economic characteristics of rural population and the livelihood strategies that these different household groups adopted during the distress. The book concludes with the observation that the heavy investment on agriculture and low level of savings from agriculture is one of the serious problems faced by the farmers and the stability of households' livelihoods requires a revision of the policies of agricultural trade liberalisation, ensuring the availability of agricultural inputs to farmers at reasonable prices, raising the level of public investment in agriculture, and the establishment of a comprehensive social security system for the rural people. The book is primarily intended for academia to serve as a valuable resource for learners of agricultural economics.

Autorentext

K. Subhash is currently a Research Scholar at the Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, Kerala, India. C.P. Jomit is currently a Research Associate at the Madras School of Economics, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Their area of research interest mainly includes agricultural economics, health and environmental economics.