Farm size shrinks by another6%

The average size of an Indian farm shrank a little over six per cent between 2010-11 and 2015-16, to 1.08 hectares from 1.15 ha, shows provisional estimates of the first phase of the 10th agricultural census. The data was released on Monday.

As a result, the share of small and marginal holdings (up to 2 ha) rose to about 86.2 per cent of total operational holdings in 2015-16 (around 126 million), from close to 85 per cent in 2010-11. The share of semi-medium and medium operational holdings (2-10 ha) dropped from 14.3 per cent to 13.2 per cent. And, that of large holdings (10 ha and above) fell from a little above 0.7 per cent in 2010-11 to a little below 0.6 per cent in 2015-16.

Operational holding is defined as all land used wholly or partly for agricultural production and operated as one technical unit by one person, alone or with others, without regard to title, legal form, size or location.

Total operational area — which means cultivated and uncultivated area, provided part of it is put to farm production — fell from close to 159.6 mn ha to 157.1 mn ha in 2015-16.

This is the 10th such exercise since 1970-71, the reference period being July to June.

In this first phase of the census, data on primary characteristics such a number of operational holdings and area operated by different size classes (marginal, small, semi-medium, medium and large), social groups (SC/ST, others), gender, types of holding, etc, are collected. In the second phase, details on characteristics of operational holdings are collected -- land use, irrigation status, tenancy particulars and the like. In the third and final phase, data on the pattern of input use by operational holdings, aslo termed an Input Survey.