Lok Sabha Question No. 3658 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-08-08
Subject: Per-capita Agricultural Land
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: SUBHASH PATEL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3658

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE  8 TH  AUGUST, 2017

## PER-CAPITA AGRICULTURAL LAND

## 3658.  SHRI SUBHASH PATEL:

Will  the  Minister  of  AGRICULTURE  AND  FARMERS  WELFARE      ‡ãðŠãäÓã एवं  कसान

कयाण ½ãâ¨ããè be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  of  per-capita  availability  of  cultivable  land  in  the  country,  State/UTwise;
- (b) whether per capita availability of cultivable land in the country is declining and if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether farmers possess only 60 per cent of agricultural land even today and 90 per cent of farmers possess only 38 per cent of the total agricultural land at present due to which there is a huge shortage of per capita cultivable land in the country; and
- (d) whether  the  Government  has  formulated  any  action  plan  to  tackle  the  said situation and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF  STATE IN THE  MINISTRY OF  AGRICULTURE AND  FARMERS  WELFARE

‡ãðŠãäÓã एवं  कसान  कयाण ½ãâ¨ããÊã¾ã ½ãñâ Àã·¾ã ½ãâ¨ããè (  SHRI  S.S. AHLUWALIA)

(a) to (d): As per Seventh Schedule of Constitution of India, land comes under the purview  of  State  Government  and,  therefore,  it  is  for  the  State  Governments  to  take suitable  steps  to  check  diversion  of  agricultural  land  for  non-agricultural  purposes. However, under the National Policy for Farmers -2007 (NPF -2007), State Governments have been advised to earmark lands with low biological potential  such as uncultivable land, land affected by salinity, acidity, etc., for non-agricultural development activities,  including  industrial  and  construction  activities.  National  Rehabilitation  and Resettlement  Policy  -  2007  (NRRP-2007)  has  also  recommended  that  as  far  as possible,  projects  may  be  set  up  on  waste  land,  degraded  land  or  un-irrigated  land. Acquisition of irrigated, multi-cropped agricultural land for non-agricultural uses may be kept  to  the  minimum  and  avoided,  to  the  extent  possible.    Further,  Ministry  of  Rural Development  is  implementing  an  Integrated  Watershed  Management  Programme (IWMP) for development of rainfed/ degraded areas.  The IWMP has been converted to the  Watershed  Component  of  the  Pradhan  Mantri  Krishi  Sinchayee  Yojana  (PMKSY) from the financial year 2015-16.

The state/UT-wise per capita  availability  of  cultivable  land  is  not  compiled  and maintained  separately.  However,  as  per  Agriculture  Census  2010-11(latest  available) the state/UT-wise average size of operational holding in the country is at Annexure.

As per various Quinquennial Agriculture Censuses conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture  in    1970-71,    1976-77,    1980-81,  1985-86,  1990-91,  1995-96,  2000-01, 2005-06 and 2010-11, the average size of operational holdings in the country was 2.28, 2.00,1.84,1.69, 1.55, 1.41, 1.33. 1.23 and 1.15 hectares respectively, which shows that the  average  size  of  the  operational  holding  declined  by  about  50%  in  2010-11  over 1970-71.  The  decline  in  average  size  of  operational  holding  has  been  attributed  to fragmentation of Land holding due to excess pressure on land, conversion of land for urbanization/industrialization  or  transfer  of  land  to  meet  the  requirement  of  nonagricultural purposes etc.

Further  as  per  Agriculture  Census  2010-11(latest  available),  the  number  of operational holders (Marginal and Small) in the country is 85 percent with the coverage of 44.6 percent of area under operational holding.

## Annexure

## Annexure referred in reply to Lok Sabha Unstarred Q. No. 3658 due for reply on 08.08.2017

State-wise average size (in ha.) of operational holdings as per Agriculture Census 2010-11

|   Sl. No. | States/UTs        |   Average size of operational holdings in hectare |
|-----------|-------------------|---------------------------------------------------|
|         1 | A & N Islands     |                                              1.85 |
|         2 | Andhra Pradesh    |                                              1.08 |
|         3 | Arunachal Pradesh |                                              3.51 |
|         4 | Assam             |                                              1.1  |
|         5 | Bihar             |                                              0.39 |
|         6 | Chandigarh        |                                              1.29 |
|         7 | Chhattisgarh      |                                              1.36 |
|         8 | D & N Haveli      |                                              1.38 |
|         9 | Daman & Diu       |                                              0.38 |
|        10 | Delhi             |                                              1.45 |
|        11 | Goa               |                                              1.14 |
|        12 | Gujarat           |                                              2.03 |
|        13 | Haryana           |                                              2.25 |
|        14 | Himachal Pradesh  |                                              0.99 |
|        15 | Jammu & Kashmir   |                                              0.62 |
|        16 | Jharkhand         |                                              1.17 |
|        17 | Karnataka         |                                              1.55 |
|        18 | Kerala            |                                              0.22 |
|        19 | Lakshadweep       |                                              0.27 |
|        20 | Madhya Pradesh    |                                              1.78 |
|        21 | Maharashtra       |                                              1.44 |
|        22 | Manipur           |                                              1.14 |
|        23 | Meghalaya         |                                              1.37 |
|        24 | Mizoram           |                                              1.14 |
|        25 | Nagaland          |                                              6.02 |
|        26 | Odisha            |                                              1.04 |
|        27 | Puducherry        |                                              0.66 |
|        28 | Punjab            |                                              3.77 |
|        29 | Rajasthan         |                                              3.07 |
|        30 | Sikkim            |                                              1.42 |
|        31 | Tamil Nadu        |                                              0.8  |
|        32 | Tripura           |                                              0.49 |
|        33 | Uttar Pradesh     |                                              0.76 |
|        34 | Uttarakhand       |                                              0.89 |
|        35 | West Bengal       |                                              0.77 |

| All India   | 1.15   |
|-------------|--------|

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