The entire region around Upputhara remained uninhabited till about the early part of the 20th century. Upputhara was one of the regions to which migration of farmers from other parts of Kerala took place.

A group of seven Christian households came to Upputhara in 1910 from the Meenachil taluk of Kottayam district after acquiring licence from the Government of Travancore to establish tea plantations. The first migration to begin cultivation of crops outside the plantation segment took place, however, only later by the mid-1930s.

This type of migration to regions outside the plantation segment was mainly steered by a policy of the Government of Travancore to distribute pattas (possession rights) to migrant farmers in previously uninhabited areas. The largest flow of migrants into Upputhara and its surrounding regions took place in the 1950s.

Farmers who migrated into Upputhara after the 1930s were primarily involved in the cultivation of coffee, pepper and a few tuber intercrops. Tea was cultivated only in large plantations. From the cultivation of only a few crops in the 1950s, the cropping pattern in Upputhara became diversified significantly by the 1990s.