The Agrarian Question and Mechanisation of Agriculture in Kerala

Two features of agriculture in Kerala lend special significance to the phenomenon of low agricultural mechanisation. The first is the relative shortage of agricultural workers, and the second the comparatively high wage rate in agriculture. We argue that the failure to mechanise agricultural operations cannot be explained without examining the larger question of the stunted development of agriculture in the State. A revival of agriculture, therefore, cannot be based entirely on mechanisation, for it must address a range of problems including the growing dominance of the "asset" function of land at the expense of its "means of production" function, and the atomisation of farming. The social organisation of production needs to be reoriented such that the means of production function is reinstated and the limits imposed by the small size of farms are overcome. Possible remedies to this problem include collectivisation of agriculture, appropriate organisational structures for production, and State support.