The Malabar Salinity Frontier: Policy Blind Spots in Non-Kuttanad Estuarine Agriculture

Policy Update
Ayana N K

Background 

Kerala’s estuarine rice-farming systems are often associated with Kuttanad, the famous below-sea-level rice-growing region of Alappuzha and Kottayam. But in the coastal wetlands of northern Kerala, a similar and much less recognised farming system exists in the tidal wetlands of Kannur, Kasaragod and Kozhikode. Known as kaipad (or kaikandam), it is considered the Malabar counterpart of central Kerala’s pokkali system. Farmers grow salt-tolerant paddy during the monsoon and traditionally use the same fields for shrimp and fish harvesting during the rest of the year.

Kaipad cultivation depends heavily on the southwest monsoon. During summer, salt levels in the soil can rise considerably, while monsoon rainfall helps flush out the salt before rice is planted. This makes cultivation highly dependent on weather and leaves farmers with a limited cropping window. Unlike Kuttanad, where the Thanneermukkom barrage provides greater control over water and salinity, kaipad areas have limited engineered water management. Consequently, the area under cultivation has declined from around 3,850 hectares historically to less than 800 hectares in recent estimates.

Several measures have been introduced to protect the system. The Kerala Agricultural University’s Regional Agricultural Research Station (RARS), Pilicode, developed saline- and flood-tolerant Ezhome rice varieties, building on traditional varieties such as Kuthiru and Orkazhama. Kaipad rice also received a GI tag, while a farmer-producer company was established to improve collective marketing. In 2019, the state government established the Kaipad Agency for Development and Sustenance (KADS). In October 2022, the first consignment of GI-tagged Kaipad rice and its value-added products was exported from Kannur to the UAE, marking an early step in expanding Kaipad products into international markets.

These efforts primarily aim to support the smallholder farming families who depend on kaipad cultivation, particularly around Ezhome in Kannur.

Functioning

KADS works alongside RARS Pilicode, which focuses on developing and promoting suitable rice varieties, and the Malabar Kaipad Farmers’ Producer Company, which supports the aggregation, branding, and marketing of kaipad rice, including export linkages. However, unlike the Kuttanad Development Scheme, which operates through a dedicated Irrigation Department structure centred around a major water regulator, kaipad governance is spread across the agriculture, fisheries, and local self-government sectors. There is no single authority responsible specifically for managing its water systems.

Funding for kaipad has also remained relatively limited and largely scheme-based, focusing on areas such as variety development, GI promotion, and marketing support. This is very different from the large-scale infrastructure spending seen in Kuttanad. For example, a 2019 special package for Kuttanad was estimated at ₹2,447.66 crore for works including bund reconstruction and desilting. Kaipad, in contrast, has no comparable network of dedicated bunds, sluices, or regulators. Farmers continue to depend largely on the natural cycle of the monsoon to manage salinity and prepare the fields for cultivation, much as earlier generations did.

Performance 

Institutional progress is more visible in research and marketing. Five hybrid varieties have been released, the rice has received a GI tag, export channels were opened in 2019, and a farmer-producer company is now functioning. However, the situation looks quite different when we look at the most important measure of the system’s survival: how much land is actually being cultivated and how much rice is being produced.

In Ezhome, Kannur, which has one of the largest concentrations of Kaipad farming, production reportedly fell from around 15,000 tonnes in one year to just 9 tonnes the following year, according to representatives of the Malabar Kaipad Farmer Producer Company. Farmer representatives have also reported that the area under cultivation has fallen by about half compared with a few years ago. Another concern is the lack of regular official data. Unlike Kuttanad, kaipad currently has no public dashboard or monitoring system that continuously tracks cultivated area, salinity, and production. Much of the available information therefore comes from academic studies and farmer organisations rather than consistent government statistics. This lack of reliable, continuous monitoring is itself an important governance gap.

Figure 1: Cultivable Kaipad Area, Historical Baseline vs. Recent Estimate

Source: Village Square (2023), field reporting citing Kerala Agricultural University estimates.

Figure 2: Ezhome Cluster Paddy Output, Year-on-Year

Source: Malabar Kaipad Farmers’ Producer Company (MKFPC), reported in Good Food Movement (2025)

Impact 

When we look at KADS’s main goals, conservation, sustainable development, and improving farmers’ livelihoods, the results are mixed. There has been real progress in some areas. The GI tag and access to export markets have helped make kaipad rice more visible and improved its market potential. New rice varieties have also made farming more resilient to salinity and flooding.

However, the bigger problem remains: the amount of land under cultivation has not stabilised. A 2025 study by Vanaja and Sreshma on the Kaipad tract found that only around 30–40% of the estimated area is currently cultivated, with the remainder left fallow. The study also notes that when rice tracts remain fallow for one or two years, mangrove seedlings can enter through tidal inflow and establish within the rice fields. This creates a difficult conservation challenge: mangroves are ecologically important, while their regeneration can also complicate the return of some fallow Kaipad fields to cultivation.

So, while the existing measures have helped farmers make better use of kaipad land when they are able to cultivate it, they have not fully addressed the deeper problem of why farmers are losing access to cultivable land in the first place.

Table 1: Institutional Comparison — Kuttanad vs. Kaipad Salinity Management

Source: Compiled from Kerala Irrigation Department (Thanneermukkom Barrage documentation)

Table 2: Kaipad Soil and Water Salinity, Seasonal Range

Source: Chandramohanan & Mohanan (2012), Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge

Emerging Issues

• Lack of Water Management: Unlike Kuttanad, which uses structures like the Thanneermukkom barrage to control salinity, kaipad farming has no similar water-control system. Government support has mainly focused on developing salt-tolerant rice varieties and promoting the crop.
• Institutional fragmentation: Responsibility is split across KADS, KAU, fisheries, and panchayat bodies, with no single authority to plan water infrastructure the way the Kuttanad Development Scheme’s Irrigation Department wing can.
• From Fallow Land to Mangroves: Protecting mangroves is important for the environment, but it can create a problem for farmers when combined with poor salinity management. If a farmer is unable to cultivate a field for one season, mangroves may grow back. Once this happens, restrictions on clearing mangroves can make it difficult to bring the land back into cultivation.
• Lack of Continuous Monitoring: There is no regular system to track salinity, cultivated area, and rice production in kaipad areas. Unlike Kuttanad, policymakers do not have up-to-date data to understand what is happening on the ground.
• Climate Change Pressure: Climate change could make the problems faced by kaipad farmers even worse. Rising sea levels and changes in the timing of the monsoon could increase the amount of salt entering the fields. Unlike Kuttanad, which has the Thanneermukkom barrage to help control water and salinity, kaipad has no similar system to protect farmers from these changes.

Way Forward 

• Create a monitoring system: Set up a dedicated system to regularly track kaipad’s salinity, cultivated area, and rice production. This data can be shared with KADS, RARS Pilicode, and farmer groups to help farmers decide when to sow and where support is needed.
• Improve local water management: Introduce small, environmentally friendly structures such as community-managed sluices and low bunds. These should be designed according to local conditions rather than using large structures like the Kuttanad barrage, which could harm the mangrove ecosystem.
• Create a Malabar Wetland Agriculture Package: Develop a dedicated government package for kaipad and other small wetland farming areas. It could bring together MGNREGA labour for maintaining bunds and canals, KAU’s agricultural support, and KADS’s marketing activities under one coordinated programme.
• Support farmers during bad seasons: Introduce a per-hectare cultivation subsidy that farmers can receive even when yields are low. This would reduce the pressure to abandon fields after a poor monsoon and help prevent cultivated land from being permanently lost.
• Include kaipad in climate planning: Clearly recognise kaipad and similar non-Kuttanad wetland systems in Kerala’s wetland and climate-adaptation policies. This would ensure that they receive specific funding and attention rather than being included under broad coastal-wetland categories.

References 

1. Chandramohanan, K. T., & Mohanan, K. V. (2012). Kaipad rice farming in North Kerala—An indigenous saline resistant organic farming system. Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge, 11(1), 185–189. https://nopr.niscpr.res.in/bitstream/123456789/13440/1/IJTK%2011(1)%20185-189.pdf 
2. Good Food Movement. (2025). Hybrid Kaipad rice thrives in Kannur’s salty fields. https://gfm.akshayakalpa.org/read/feature-article/hybrid-kaipad-rice-thrives-in-kannurs-salty-fields 
3. Village Square. (2023). Why Kerala needs revival of Kaipad rice. https://villagesquare.in/keralas-farmers-need-more-support-to-revive-kaipad-rice/ 
4. Kerala Irrigation Department. Thanneermukkom Barrage. https://irrigation.kerala.gov.in/thanneermukkom 
5. Kerala Soil Fertility Portal. Soil Related Constraints — Pokkali and Kaipad Lands. https://www.keralasoilfertility.net/en/laterites.jsp 
6. International Journal of Ecology and Environmental Sciences. KAIPAD – Unique Rice Tract of Kerala, India. https://ojs.nieindia.org/index.php/ijees/article/view/716 

About the Contributor

Ayana N K is a Political Science graduate from the University of Calicut. With a keen interest in public policy, international relations, and development studies, she enjoys researching contemporary social and political issues and exploring how policies shape society. 

Acknowledgements

The author extends her sincere gratitude to the IMPRI team for their expert guidance and constructive feedback throughout the process.

Disclaimer 

All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organization.

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