Can We Depend Upon Other States for the Food?

Introduction

Kerala has been a consumer state for a long time. Due to the developmental pressure and increase in population, the cultivable lands have been converted to the lands for development of high-rise buildings. This has been happening in all major cities in the southern state of Kerala. Due to non-availability of land for development some portions of backwaters have been reclaimed as land in commercial capital of Kerala. There are many reasons why people are leaving the traditional farming occupation to go to the cities. In this blog, we would be looking at the reasons why this change is happening.

Kerala as a Consumer State

People with acres of land have left the farming due to the non-availability of people for doing agriculture related jobs. Even if people are ready to come, they ask exorbitant amounts as compensation. As a result, the farming has become a non-viable occupation for them. Due to this reason, Kerala has become a consumer state, depending upon the availability of vegetables and other eatables on other states, especially Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The consumers in our state have no control over the conditions of the agricultural produce that come from across the borders. The people of the state have to depend upon whatever food brought to the state. 

Bane of Being a Consumer State

People of Kerala state have long left the occupation of agriculture due to non-viability of the salary structure and the changing weather patterns. As a result, the consumers of the state need to depend upon the food brought from other states. Due to many reasons, people of the state do not have control on many things to ensure the availability of quality of food.

•  Food Quality: There is no control on the food quality. Whatever the food that comes from across the border has to be eaten by the consumers of the state. There is no provision in place to check the quality in the markets of the state.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Stoppage of Supply: Whenever there is some protest against the state, the political parties of the neighbouring states or supplier states stop the supply of vegetables, provisions, rice, etc. This leads to the increase in price due to the non-availability of these food items.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Dependence on Middlemen: The stockists of our state need to deal with the middlemen who bring the supply to our state. These middlemen charge big commissions for the service rendered by them. Over the period of time, they have developed a nexus with the peers across the borders to ensure higher pricing.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Hoarding: The middlemen and some stockists in the state encourage hoarding. They stock the loads coming from across the border in the anticipation of higher price. Many a times, the stored food items begin to stale over a period of time, causing huge loss to the exchequer.
  
  
  
  
  
  
•  Transportation Costs: Since the food items such as vegetables, fruits, rice, wheat and other grains need to be transported from other states, we have to pay for the transportation costs. The transporters at times strike the work demanding hike in the transportation costs. This gets adversely reflected in the things we purchase in our state.
  
  
  
  
  
  
•  Fuel Prices: Every year, there has been a steady increase in the fuel prices, especially that of diesel. Citing these reasons, the transporters and the middlemen hike the prices of food items. The poor and hapless consumers of the state have to pay the exorbitant amount to get their daily quota of food items to prepare food at their homes.