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In an indication of further deepening of a crisis in the agricutural sector, the average size of operational agricultural holdings in the country has declined to 1.08 hectares (ha) in 2015-16 as compared to 1.15 ha in 2010-11, according to the freshly- released provisional agriculture census data released on Monday.
Expectedly, the number of operational holdings in the country has gone up by 5.33 per cent to 146 million during the same period from 138 million in 2010-11, revealed the 10th Agriculture Census whose phase-1 data have been made available. The share of small and marginal holdings went up to 86.21 per cent from 84.97 in the previous census. In terms of operated area, their share is 47.34 per cent as against 44.31 per cent in the same period.
According to the census, there was a loss of 2.45 million hectares (mha) of cultivated land due to urban sprawl and other developmental activities. The operated area in 2015-16 has come down to 157.14 mha. The sharpest fall in operational holdings happened in Goa, at 28 per cent. Semi-medium and medium operational holdings (of 2-10 ha) dropped to 13.22 per cent from 14.29 per cent and large holdings (above 10 ha) slipped to 0.57 per cent from 0.71 per cent in 2010-11.
There has been a marginal increase in holdings owned by female farmers. The share of female operational holders has increased to 13.87 per cent in 2015-16 from 12.79 per cent in the previous census.
The average operational holding was highest in Nagaland (5.06 ha) and lowest in Kerala (0.18 ha). The latest data show UP at 23.82 million, had the highest number of operational holdings, followed by Bihar (16.41 million), Maharashtra (14.71 million), Madhya Pradesh (10 million), Karnataka (8.68 million).
In the operated area, Rajasthan reported highest of 20.87 mha, followed by Maharashtra (19.88 mha), Uttar Pradesh (17.45 mha), MP (15.67 mha) and Karnataka (11.72 mha). The highest variation in the number of operational holdings was reported in MP at 12.74 per cent, followed by Andhra Pradesh (11.85 per cent).
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