Abstract

The wide-spread use of a host of varieties is a striking feature of paddy cultivation in the Malabar district. The practice has probably been found necessary because of the absence of regular irrigation systems, the peculiar distribution of rainfall and the uneven contour of the land. As regards the requirements of the soil and the limitations of water supply every ryot seems to know his lands so intimately that the different varieties are perhaps chosen only to reduce the local irregularities of soil and water supply. The multiplicity of varieties may therefore be taken as an index of the diverse conditions of paddy cultivation prevalent in the locality. Besides this, the type of land and land tenure, resistance to pests and diseases, season and rainfall, the demands of the markets and the mills, also exert a powerful influence on the choice of varieties that are grown. In 1938-39 Palghat taluk raised 207,445 acres of paddy, which represents 71'2 per cent of the annual cultivated area. Farming in the taluk is practically confined to the cultivation of rice in wet lands.

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