The
National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation, conducted a survey on Land and Livestock Holdings in
the rural areas of the country as a part of NSS 70th Round during
January, 2013 to December, 2013. Similar survey on the same subject was last
conducted by NSSO ten years back i.e. during January, 2003 - December, 2003 as
a part of its 59th Round.
NSSO has released the key indicators of Land
and Livestock Holdings in India
based on the data collected in the 70th Round Survey. The detailed
results of the survey are planned to be released in two main reports, one on
‘Household ownership and Operational holdings in India’ and the other on
‘Livestock holdings in India’.
The main objective of the survey on Land and
Livestock is to generate basic quantitative information on the agrarian
structure of the country relevant to land policy. Detailed quantitative
information on various aspects of land ownership holdings, operational holdings
and ownership of livestock was collected in the survey. The collected
information includes area of plots, type of use of plots, leasing pattern,
ownership of plots, irrigation facility, type of crop production/farming,
number of different types of livestock owned, etc.
The survey covered the entire rural areas of the Indian Union. The results of
the survey are based only on the Central Sample canvassed by NSSO, consisting
of 4,529 villages spread over rural areas of all States and Union Territories. The information of the round was collected in two
visits from the same set of sample households. The first visit was made during
January 2013– July 2013 and the second, during August, 2013 - December 2013. A
total number of 35,604 households were surveyed in first visit and 35, 337 of
them in second visit.
Some key indicators on
various aspects of land and livestock holdings by the rural households in the
country are as follows:
A.
Ownership of Land
·
During the agricultural year July,
2012- June, 2013, rural India had an estimated total area of 92.3 million
hectares under household ownership of land and the average area owned
per household was 0.592 hectares.
·
Within the rural households, the marginal
land owners (i.e. possessing more than 0.002 but less than or equal to 1.0
hectare of land) constituted the highest proportion(75.42%) of total rural
households, whereas the large land owners (possessing land more than
10.000 hectares) constituted the lowest proportion (0.24% ) of the total
households. The landless category (possessing land less than or equal
0.002 hectare) constituted 7.41% of the total rural households.
·
In terms of percentage of total area
owned, the largest category was the marginal
land owners (i.e. possessing more than 0.002 but less than or equal to 1.0
hectare of land) owing 29.75% of the total land area owned.
·
Among all the ownership holdings, the
households with self-employed in cultivation as the major source of
income, owned the highest share of land (81.4% of the total land area owned)
with average area owned 1.104 hectares. Share of land owned by the households
with self-employed in livestock
farming and the
households with self-employed in other
agricultural activities were 1.5% each of
the total land area owned.
B. Operational
Holding of Land
·
During the agricultural year July,2012-
June,2013, rural India had an estimated 108 million household operational
holdings, covering a total area of 98.6 million hectares of land. The average
area operated per holding (ha) was estimated at 0.907 hectares.
Trends in cultivation
pattern
·
88.6% of the household operational
holdings were operated for the whole agricultural year, whereas 8.5% was
operated only during July,2012 to December,2012, and 2.9% only during
January,2013 to June,2013.
·
The land use pattern shows that the
estimated land area used for crop production was around 94.7% during the season
July,2012 – December,2012 and around 79% during the season
January,2013 – June2013. Percentage areas of land used for non-agricultural
purposes were 2.83% and 13.85% in these two periods respectively.
·
The highest percentage of area was used
for growing cereals in both the periods July,
2012 – December, 2012 (56.21%) and January,2013 – June,2013 (57.74%). The next
major use of land was for production of oil seeds (13.75% and 7.34%) and
pulses (6.30% and 10.20%) in the two seasons respectively.
·
At all India level, the major source of
irrigation was ground water (tube well, well, etc) covering 67% of
irrigated land area during July, 2012-December, 2012 and 71% during
January,2013-June, 2013.
·
During the season July, 2012 – December,
2012, the major States where land area was mostly affected by flood included
Andhra Pradesh (26%), Assam (23%), Bihar (17%) and West Bengal (13%) . Amongst
these, agricultural activities were mostly affected by flood in the States of
Assam (7%) and West Bengal (4%).
Trends
in Livestock Farming
·
Among the land used for animal farming
(i.e., dairy, poultry/ duckery, piggery, fishery and farming of other
animals) the major use of land was made in dairy (53.8% and 69.7%) in
July, 2012 – December, 2012 and January, 2013 – June, 2013 respectively. In
about, 18.7% and 11.8% of land area was used for fishery during the two
seasons.
·
The percentage
of area used for all types of farming of animals is 0.97% in July,2012 – December,2012
and 1.69 % during January,2013 – June,2013. Also, 36.69% of household
operational holdings reported farming of animals in July, 2012 – December,
2012, and 43.58% reported in January, 2013 – June, 2013.
C.
Stock of Livestock/Poultry Birds holding
in the country
·
The stock of cattle and buffalo of the
country was estimated at 204 million during 2012-13. The estimated
population of sheep & goat during the period was about 99 million.
·
The population of poultry birds has been
estimated at 255 million during the year 2012-13.
The publication based on above cited Key Indicators
is also available on the website of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation. www.mospi.gov.in
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KSP/SG