Rural Livelihoods in Kalpattu, Tamil Nadu

Rural Livelihoods in Kalpattu

• Kalpattu is near the sea coast in Tamil Nadu where people engage in diverse occupations.
• Non-farm activities in Kalpattu include basket making, utensil making, pot making, and brick production.
• Some residents offer essential services like blacksmithing, nursing teaching, barbering, weaving and cycle repair mechanics and washer men.
• The main street resembles a bazaar with tea shops, grocery stores, barber shops, cloth shops, a tailor, and fertilizer/seed shops.
• Tea shops sell South Indian tiffin items like idli, dosai, and upama in the morning and snacks like vadai, bonda, and mysorepak in the evening.
• Some residents work as construction workers and lorry drivers in a nearby town.
• The village is surrounded by low hills and paddy is the main crop
• Sugar cane, cotton and plantain are also grown.

Agricultural Laborers: Thulasi's Story

• Thulasi is a landless agricultural laborer in Kalpattu and other villages and works on Ramalingam's land.
• Ramalingam owns twenty acres of paddy fields.
• Thulasi is supervised by Karuthamma, Ramalingam's wife
• Transplanting paddy is her regular job, followed by weeding and harvesting when plants grow.
• As she is getting older, she finds bending for long hours in water painful.
• She earns Rs 40 per day, slightly less than her home village, mainly for the reliability of work.
• Her husband, Raman, is also a laborer who sprays pesticides
• Raman looks for work outside when there is no farm work, e.g., loading sand or stone.
• Thulasi cooks, cleans house, washes clothes, and collects firewood, while her husband helps in getting groceries.
• They sold their cow to cover medical expenses after one of their daughters fell ill.

Small Farmers: Sekar's Story

• Sekar's family does all the work and manages all the work on his two acres of land.
• He sometimes gets help from other small farmer and helps other small farmers as reciprocation.
• Due to an existing loan Sekar has to sell paddy to be trader at a lower rate.
• Sekar expects to produce 60 bags of paddy, and the remaining paddy will last only eight months.
• Sekar works at Ramalingam's rice mill to earn extra income.
• The family owns a hybrid cow and sells milk to the local milk cooperative.

Debt and Distress in Farming

• Crop failure due to insufficient rain can leave farmers unable to repay loans.
• Farmers in debt may borrow more money and go further into debt
• Debt is a major cause and can drive farmers to suicide.

Big Farmers: Ramalingam and Karuthamma's Story

• Besides land, Ramalingam's family owns a rice mill and a shop selling seeds, pesticides, etc.
• The rice mill was funded using their own money and loans from a government bank.

Terrace Farming in Nagaland

• Community engages in terrace cultivation in Chizami which is in Phek district in Nagaland.
• The land is made into flat plots and in steps.
• The sides of each plot are raised to retain water which is ideal for rice cultivation.
• People work collectively in each other's fields forming groups of six to eight.

Agricultural Laborers and Farmers in India

• Kalpattu has Thulasi (laborer), Sekar (small farmer), and Ramalingam (large farmer).
• Two out of five rural families are agricultural laborers.
• 80% of farmers in India are small farmers.
• 20% of Indian farmers are large farmers.
• Many farmers also have forest collection, animal husbandry, and dairy farming etc.
• In central India farming and collection from the forest provide the source for additional livelihood.

Fishing Communities: Aruna and Paarivelan

• Pudupet, near Kalpattu, is a fishing village where people earn their living by fishing.
• Catamarans and nets are common near the houses on the sea shore.
• The auction money is split into four shares, one for each who went fishing and one for equipment. Fishing equipment is used in the auctions. -A loan from the bank was secured to purchase an engine
• The engine is fixed on the catamaran.
• Monsoon season is a lean time to fish
• Families often borrow money from traders in order to survive harvest.