Farming in a fragmented landscape

Average size of landholding has shrunk to 0.80 hectares during 2010-11

Land available for farming in Tamil Nadu is going down year by year. There seems no end to fragmentation.

According to the latest report of the Department of Evaluation and Applied Research (DEAR) on the State’s economic appraisal for the period from 2011-12 to 2013-14, the average size of landholding has shrunk from 1.45 hectares during 1970-71 to 0.80 hectares during 2010-11.

The report, quoting the last Agricultural Census (2010-11), says the average size of landholding in the State is even lower than the national average, which is 1.16 hectares.

The report states that a combination of factors, such as increasing industrialisation, growing urbanisation and real estate and infrastructure development, has diverted farmland to non-farm use, reducing the area under cultivation.

Marginal and small farmers owning up to two hectares account for 92 per cent of the total number of landholdings. The medium (2-10 hectares) and big (over 10 hectares) farmers possess 8 per cent.

As for area, the share of small and marginal farmers is 61 per cent, whereas the medium and big farmers own 39 per cent. While a marginal farmer holds, on an average, 0.37 hectare, a big farmer owns 20.59 hectares.

The silver lining is that there has been no corresponding fall in grain production. The technological advances and better water management have helped the farmers achieve a fairly reasonable rate of yield: around three tonnes per hectare.

The production was 101.5 lakh tonnes during 2011-12 and 110.65 lakh tonnes during 2013-14. “There is still scope for improvement,” an official says.

In the past 40 years, the share of agriculture in the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has dropped drastically, from 34.79 per cent to 8.81 per cent. Yet, the farm sector remains the biggest employer, accounting for 45 per cent of employment.

The secondary and tertiary sectors, which now contribute 30.5 and 60.6 per cent to the GSDP, employ 27 per cent of the workforce each.

The report has recommended that the marginal and small farmers be motivated to form farmers’ groups so that they get all technical inputs in time and to ensure judicious use of scarce resources.