The socio-economic conditions of the Jaffna Peninsula depend mainly on primary economic activities, agriculture, livestock and fisheries. The farmers have been able to utilise the underground water to the maximum. A sizeable number of people receive income from the backyard poultry breeding, and got rearing as well as from homestead gardens.
Land ownership is governed by the traditional land tenure system.
Out of 84,416 plots of cultivated land in 1991, only 58,493 are owned by the cultivators. The balance is worked by tenant cultivators. In the premium agricultural areas of Valikamam and Vadamarachchi the percentages of tenant landless cultivators are very high, as shown in Table 4.2.1. The land holdings are very small. The total number of 84,416 holdings cover only an extent of 24,924 hectares, which gives an average of 0.3 hectares per allotment.