Average area operated per holding drops to 1.06% in 02-03: survey

New Delhi, Aug 31 (UNI) The pattern of average area operated per holding in the country has shown a steady decline to 1.06 hectares in 2002-03 compared to 1.67 hectares in 1981-82 and 1.34 hectares during 1991-92, says a nationwide land and livestock holdings survey released here.

According to "Some Aspects of Operational Land Holdings in India, 2002-03", undertaken by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, net sown area constituted 87 per cent of operated land of which irrigated land formed 42 per cent during the kharif season against 57 per cent and 67 per cent respectively during the rabi season.

Some of the important findings were that marginal holdings (of size 1 hectare or less) in 2002-03 constituted 70 per cent of all operational holdings, small holdings (size 1 to 2 hectares) constituted 16 per cent, semi-medium holdings (2 to 4 hectares), 9 per cent, medium holdings (4 to 10 hectares), 4 per cent, and large holdings (over 10 hectares), less than 1 per cent.

The share of marginal holdings in total operated area climbed by 6-7 percentage points since 1991-92 to reach 22-23 per cent, drawing level with the shares of the semi-medium and medium holdings, which had the largest shares in 1991-92, the report found.

The report -- the third in a series of four reports -- deals with the changes in aggregate characteristics and size distributions of operational holdings over the past four decades. The findings are based on the sixth nationwide land and livestock holdings survey carried out in the 59th round (January to December 2003) by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).

The survey covered 52,265 rural households and 29,893 urban households spread over 6,638 villages and 3,764 urban blocks respectively. All states and union territories were covered under the survey.

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