Lok Sabha Question No. 3568 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-12-10
Subject: Migration of Farmers due to Shrinking Agricultural Land
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: Arun Sao

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMER S WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION AND FARMER S WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3568 TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 10 TH DEC EMBER, 2019

## MIGRATION OF FARMERS DUE TO SHRINKING AGRICULTURAL LAND

## 3568.  SHRI ARUN SAO:

Will the Minister of AG R ICUL TU R E AND FA RM E R S WE L FA R E कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) the percentage of the existing agrarian land out of the total land in the country, State-wise;
- (b) whether small farmers/agriculture workers/agriculture labourers are migrating from rural areas to urban areas due to shrinking of agrarian land in various parts of the country;
- (c) if so, the details thereof, State-wise including Chhattisgarh;
- (d) the reaction of the Government thereto; and

(e) the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to bring more land under agriculture to  increase agricultural production and  to stop  the migration of agriculture  workers  towards urban areas?

## ANSWER

## MINISTE R OF AG RI CULTUR E AND FARMER S WEL FA R E

कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी ( S H RI NA R E N D R A S IN G H  T OMA R)

(a): As per the latest data available on Land Use Statistics, State-wise details of  percentage of agricultural land/ cultivable land  out of the total land in the country  for the year 2014-15 is given at Annex I .

(b) to (d): As per Census 2011, conducted by the Registrar General of India, the total number of agricultural  workers in  the country have increased from 234.1 million (127.3 million cultivators and 106.8 million agricultural labourers) in 2001 to 263.1 million (118.8 million cultivators and 144.3 million agricultural  labourers)  in  2011. However,  the share  of  workforce engaged  in  the agriculture sector (comprising of cultivators and agricultural labourers) has come down from 58.2 per cent in 2001 to 54.6 per cent in 2011.   State/UT-wise details of agricultural workers in India are given in Annex-II. Migration of agricultural labour from rural  to urban areas is a general phenomenon and a natural part of the development process.  The reasons for this shift include, inter alia, better employment opportunities in industry and services, increasing urbanization, low income in agriculture etc. In a market economy like India, movement of the people for better economic opportunities is inexorable. However, the foodgrain production in the country has continued its upward trend and during 2018-19 also the production is estimated at 284.95 million Tonnes (As Per Fourth Advance Estimate, 2018-19).

(e): As per the Seventh Schedule of Constitution of India, land comes under the purview of State Governments and, therefore, it is for the  State Governments to make efforts to increase cultivable land. However, Government of India supplements the efforts of the  State Governments through various crop development Schemes/Programmes and it has taken several steps to increase total cropped area and to increase agricultural production through increased investment, improving farm practices, rural infrastructure, areas under protective irrigation, delivery of credit, technology, other inputs, extension, marketing etc. Further, Government has taken measures to retain farmers in agriculture and improve returns to farmers by enhancing institutional credit  to farmers; promotion of scientific warehousing infrastructure for  increasing shelf  life  of agricultural  produce;  improved access to irrigation  through Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana(PMK S Y); provision of Price Stabilization Fund(P S F) to mitigate price  volatility  in  agricultural  produce,  Scheme  for  Soil  Health  Cards;  setting  up  of  Agri-tech Infrastructure Fund  for  making  farming  competitive  and  profitable;  developing  commercial  organic farming in North East Region, etc.

## Annexure referred in reply to part (a) of Lok Sabha unstarred Q. NO. 3568 due for answer on 10/12/19

State-wise details of percentage of Cultivable land / Agricultural Land out of the geographical area for the year 2014-15

(in thousand hectares)

(in per cent)

| STATES/UTs              |   Geographical Area |   Cultivable land |   percentage of Cultivable Land out of the geographical area |
|-------------------------|---------------------|-------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------|
| ANDHRAPRADESH           |               16276 |              9047 |                                                        55.58 |
| ARUNACHALPRADESH        |                8374 |               423 |                                                         5.06 |
| ASSAM                   |                7844 |              3364 |                                                        42.88 |
| BIHAR                   |                9416 |              6579 |                                                        69.87 |
| CHHATTISGARH            |               13519 |              5558 |                                                        41.11 |
| GOA                     |                 370 |               197 |                                                        53.3  |
| GUJARAT                 |               19602 |             12661 |                                                        64.59 |
| HARYANA                 |                4421 |              3656 |                                                        82.69 |
| HIMACHAL PRADESH        |                5567 |               812 |                                                        14.58 |
| JAMMU&KASHMIR           |               22224 |              1075 |                                                         4.84 |
| JHARKHAND               |                7972 |              4343 |                                                        54.48 |
| KARNATAKA               |               19179 |             12827 |                                                        66.88 |
| KERALA                  |                3886 |              2266 |                                                        58.32 |
| MADHYAPRADESH           |               30825 |             17252 |                                                        55.97 |
| MAHARASHTRA             |               30771 |             21099 |                                                        68.57 |
| MANIPUR                 |                2233 |               390 |                                                        17.45 |
| MEGHALAYA               |                2243 |              1056 |                                                        47.08 |
| MIZORAM                 |                2108 |               367 |                                                        17.43 |
| NAGALAND                |                1658 |               694 |                                                        41.85 |
| ODISHA                  |               15571 |              6784 |                                                        43.57 |
| PUNJAB                  |                5036 |              4285 |                                                        85.08 |
| RAJASTHAN               |               34224 |             25511 |                                                        74.54 |
| SIKKIM                  |                 710 |                97 |                                                        13.59 |
| TAMILNADU               |               13006 |              8112 |                                                        62.37 |
| TELANGANA               |               11231 |              6877 |                                                        61.23 |
| TRIPURA                 |                1049 |               272 |                                                        25.97 |
| UTTARAKHAND             |                5348 |              1549 |                                                        28.96 |
| UTTARPRADESH            |               24093 |             18939 |                                                        78.61 |
| WESTBENGAL              |                8875 |              5655 |                                                        63.72 |
| ANDAMAN&NICOBAR ISLANDS |                 825 |                28 |                                                         3.37 |
| CHANDIGARH              |                  11 |                 1 |                                                        13.25 |
| DADRA&NAGARHAVELI       |                  49 |                24 |                                                        48.67 |
| DAMAN&DIU               |                  11 |                 3 |                                                        26.92 |
| DELHI                   |                 148 |                53 |                                                        35.65 |
| LAKSHADWEEP             |                   3 |                 2 |                                                        78.17 |
| PUDUCHERRY              |                  48 |                29 |                                                        60.87 |
| ALLINDIA                |              328726 |            181886 |                                                        55.33 |

Source: Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare

## Annexure-II

## Number of Agricultural Workers in India (in Millions)

| S. No.   | State/ UTs                    | Cultivators   |   Cultivators |   Agricultural Labourers |   Agricultural Labourers |   Total |   Total |
|----------|-------------------------------|---------------|---------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|---------|---------|
| S. No.   | State/ UTs                    | 2001          |       2011    |                  2001    |                  2011    | 2001    | 2011    |
|          | ALL INDIA                     | 127.31        |        118.81 |                   106.78 |                   144.33 |  234.09 |  263.14 |
| 1        | JAMMU&KASHMIR                 | 1.59          |          1.25 |                     0.25 |                     0.55 |    1.84 |    1.8  |
| 2        | HIMACHALPRADESH               | 1.95          |          2.06 |                     0.09 |                     0.18 |    2.04 |    2.24 |
| 3        | PUNJAB                        | 2.07          |          1.93 |                     1.49 |                     1.59 |    3.56 |    3.52 |
| 4        | CHANDIGARH                    | 0.00          |          0    |                     0    |                     0    |    0    |    0    |
| 5        | UTTARAKHAND                   | 1.57          |          1.58 |                     0.26 |                     0.4  |    1.83 |    1.98 |
| 6        | HARYANA                       | 3.02          |          2.48 |                     1.28 |                     1.53 |    4.3  |    4.01 |
| 7        | DELHI                         | 0.04          |          0.03 |                     0.02 |                     0.04 |    0.06 |    0.07 |
| 8        | RAJASTHAN                     | 13.14         |         13.62 |                     2.52 |                     4.94 |   15.66 |   18.56 |
| 9        | UTTARPRADESH                  | 22.17         |         19.06 |                    13.4  |                    19.94 |   35.57 |   39    |
| 10       | BIHAR                         | 8.19          |          7.2  |                    13.42 |                    18.35 |   21.61 |   25.55 |
| 11       | SIKKIM                        | 0.13          |          0.12 |                     0.02 |                     0.03 |    0.15 |    0.15 |
| 12       | ARUNACHALPRADESH              | 0.28          |          0.3  |                     0.02 |                     0.04 |    0.3  |    0.34 |
| 13       | NAGALAND                      | 0.55          |          0.54 |                     0.03 |                     0.06 |    0.58 |    0.6  |
| 14       | MANIPUR(Excl. 3Sub-divisions) | 0.38          |          0.57 |                     0.11 |                     0.11 |    0.49 |    0.69 |
| 15       | MIZORAM                       | 0.26          |          0.23 |                     0.03 |                     0.04 |    0.29 |    0.27 |
| 16       | TRIPURA                       | 0.31          |          0.3  |                     0.28 |                     0.35 |    0.59 |    0.65 |
| 17       | MEGHALAYA                     | 0.47          |          0.49 |                     0.17 |                     0.2  |    0.64 |    0.69 |
| 18       | ASSAM                         | 3.73          |          4.06 |                     1.26 |                     1.85 |    4.99 |    5.91 |
| 19       | WESTBENGAL                    | 5.65          |          5.12 |                     7.36 |                    10.19 |   13.01 |   15.31 |
| 20       | JHARKHAND                     | 3.89          |          3.81 |                     2.85 |                     4.44 |    6.74 |    8.25 |
| 21       | ORISSA                        | 4.25          |          4.1  |                     5    |                     6.74 |    9.25 |   10.84 |
| 22       | CHHATTISGARH                  | 4.31          |          4    |                     3.09 |                     5.09 |    7.4  |    9.09 |
| 23       | MADHYAPRADESH                 | 11.04         |          9.84 |                     7.4  |                    12.19 |   18.44 |   22.03 |
| 24       | GUJARAT                       | 5.80          |          5.45 |                     5.16 |                     6.84 |   10.96 |   12.29 |
| 25       | DAMAN&DIU                     | 0.00          |          0    |                     0    |                     0    |    0.01 |    0    |
| 26       | DADRA&NAGARHAVELI             | 0.04          |          0.03 |                     0.01 |                     0.02 |    0.05 |    0.05 |
| 27       | MAHARASHTRA                   | 11.81         |         12.57 |                    10.82 |                    13.49 |   22.63 |   26.06 |
| 28       | ANDHRAPRADESH                 | 7.86          |          6.49 |                    13.83 |                    16.97 |   21.69 |   23.46 |
| 29       | KARNATAKA                     | 6.88          |          6.58 |                     6.23 |                     7.16 |   13.11 |   13.74 |
| 30       | GOA                           | 0.05          |          0.03 |                     0.04 |                     0.03 |    0.09 |    0.06 |
| 31       | LAKSHADWEEP                   | 0.00          |          0    |                     0    |                     0    |    0    |    0    |
| 32       | KERALA                        | 0.72          |          0.67 |                     1.62 |                     1.32 |    2.34 |    1.99 |
| 33       | TAMILNADU                     | 5.12          |          4.25 |                     8.64 |                     9.61 |   13.76 |   13.86 |
| 34       | PUDUCHERRY                    | 0.01          |          0.01 |                     0.07 |                     0.07 |    0.08 |    0.08 |
| 35       | ANDAMAN&NICOBARISLANDS0.02    |               |          0.02 |                     0.01 |                     0    |    0.03 |    0.02 |

Note: The Census 2001 figures for India and Manipur exclude that of Mao Maram, Paomata and Purul subdivisions of Senapati district of Manipur

Source: PCA, Census of India, 2011

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