PLANTATIONS AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Case of cardamom plantations in Kattappana, Kerala, India

Abstract

Plantations are generally considered to be the seat of agrarian capitalism; creating an enclave economy, trapping the resource and labor of a peripheral region. The mainstream academic discourse proposes that the plantation sector and regional development are antagonistic and rules out the role of plantation as an agent for the socio-economic and cultural development of an infrastructural deficient, land locked, hilly area to have development indicators comparable to the valley regions surpassing the geographical disadvantages. The regional development of Kattappana and its link with production and trade in cardamom stands paradoxical to the mainstream theoretical engagements relating to the interconnectedness between plantation and regional this paper is an attempt to understand the role that cardamom as a staple of the region has played in the development of Kattappana and to identify the potential threats to this model of development.