Abstract:
Land Reforms Act in Kerala rendered tenancy invalid and
prohibited the creation of future tenancies in the State, but tenancy very
much exists. It is a consequence of the simultaneous increase in two
categories of people, “those who have land but unable to cultivate’ and
‘those who have the labour and skills, but no lands or not enough lands
of their own to cultivate’. Macro state-level data on tenancy from sources
such as the NSS appear to be gross under-estimations, going by the data
provided by micro-level studies in the state. This paper examines some
micro-level studies on tenancy in Kerala, more specifically, its prevalence
across locations and crops, characteristics of lessors and lessees, the terms
of lease, and the income derived from lease cultivation and in the light
of the analysis, argues for institutionalised arrangements for the expansion
of lease cultivation, rather than sterner measures to check it. Among
other factors, large-scale entry of self-help groups into the lease market
to take up lease cultivation, often bringing hitherto fallowed lands into
production, has prompted such a positioning.