As of now, Vallakam's economy is based on what is left of coconut cultivation, newly introduced cash crops like nutmeg (Myristica fragrans) and cacao (Theobroma cacao), remittances sent by people from the village working in other Indian states and abroad and trade.
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This has undergone a sea-change in recent times due to the near-total discontinuance of rice cultivation as it became economically non-viable and the effect of new parasitic diseases like Mandari and falling coconut prices on coconut cultivation.
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These are non-functional now because of large scale 'filling' of them for housing and other purposes and due to the spread of the fresh water weed called in Malayalam 'African payal' (Salvinia molesta) which chokes inland waterways.