The socio-ecological contradictions of land degradation and coastal agriculture in south India

Abstract

This paper examines the drivers and impacts of degradation of agricultural land in a village in a South Indian coastal delta. Drawing on insights from political economy and political ecology scholarship, it argues that there is a dialectical relation between land degradation and social inequalities, i.e. the biophysical degeneration of land is not only caused by human and environmental factors but it also generates social contradictions which further intensify both land degradation and social inequalities. The paper demonstrates, firstly, that coastal land degradation has been generated in the form of soil salinity through a confluence of the inherent environmental vulnerabilities of the region, forces of commoditization (especially those associated with shrimp aquaculture), existing social hierarchies and state policy. Secondly, it shows that social groups differentiated by caste, class and gender have experienced these changes differently. A small, relatively well-off section of the locally dominant caste landowners has benefitted from shifting from paddy to shrimp aquaculture, which is leading to a further increase in salinisation. Others have to bear the brunt of decreasing productivity of land for crop cultivation, leading them to abandon or reduce cultivation and increase dependence on non-agricultural sources of income, especially through male outmigration. Women's burden of work has increased while their capacity to earn wage-income has declined. Without any concerted state effort to either restore the land or to alleviate the widespread agrarian distress, land degradation has developed into a continuously evolving downward spiral, but one where there will still be some winners and many losers.