Deep Roots

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] 72

The family farm in India

J. S. Sandhu, Agriculture Commissioner and R. S. Saini, National Consultant (National Food Security Mission),

Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi

he importance of agriculture in the socioeconomic

fabric of India is evident in the fact that the liveli-

hood of the majority of the country’s population

depends on agriculture. The agriculture sector contrib-

utes only about 14 per cent of India’s total gross domestic

product, with more than 60 per cent population depend-

ence, resulting in low per capita income in the farm sector.

The National Policy for Farmers (2007) of the Government of

India defines a farmer as ‘a person actively engaged in the economic

and/or livelihood activity of growing crops and producing other

primary agricultural commodities’. This includes all agricultural

operational holders, cultivators, agricultural labourers, share-crop-

pers, tenants, poultry and livestock rearers, fishers, beekeepers,

gardeners, pastoralists, non-corporate planters and planting

labourers, as well as people engaged in various farm-related occu-

pations such as sericulture, vermiculture and agroforestry. The

term also includes tribal families/persons engaged in shifting

cultivation and in the collection, use and sale of minor and non-

timber forest produce. One of the aims of the policy is to improve

the economic viability of farming by substantially increasing the

net income of farmers, and to ensure that agricultural progress is

measured by advances made in their income.

A family farm is a farm owned and operated by a family. Like

other family businesses and real estate, ownership often passes to

the next generation by inheritance. It is the basic unit of themostly

agricultural economy in human history and continues to be so

in developing nations. Alternatives to family farms include those

run by the corporate sector through contract farming. Family

farming is one of the most predominant forms of agriculture all

over the world, both in developing and in developed countries.

The sector comprises a wide spectrum of farm sizes and types,

ranging from very large land holdings in high-income economies

that are easily cultivated by one or two family members with the

use of labour-saving machinery and hired labour, to the small-

holdings of a few hectares or less in low-income economies. The

latter are often oriented towards subsistence with lowmarketable

surplus.In

the Indian context a family farm is a farm on which

only family members work full-time; they are not linked by

salary, but by domestic ties. Work forges strong links between the

family and the farm and part of what is produced is consumed by

the family itself. Family farms do supply markets, but domestic

consumption is the primary concern. Capital is family-held and

it is inseparable from what the family owns.

The total number of operational holdings in India during

1990/91 was 106.6 million, and that figure increased to 137.7

Number and area of operational holdings by size groups over different years in India

Source: Compiled from

Agriculture Statistics at a Glance

of different years, Government of India Publication. Percentage figures in parentheses

No. of Holding (000)

Area (000 Ha)

Average Size of Holding (Ha)

Category of

Farmers

1990-91 1995-96 2005-06 2010-11 1990-91 1995-96 2005-06 2010-11 1990-91 1995-96 2005-06 2010-11

Marginal (less

than 1 hectare)

63,389

(59.44)

71,179

(61.58)

83,694

(64.77)

92,356

(67.04)

24,894

(15.04)

28,121

(17.21)

32,026

(20.23)

35,410

(22.25)

0.39

0.4 0.38 0.38

Small (1.0 to 2.0

hectares)

20,092

(18.84)

21,643

(18.73)

23,930

(18.52)

24,705

(17.93)

28,827

(17.42)

30,722

(18.81)

33,101

(20.91)

35,136

(22.07)

1.43 1.42 1.38 1.42

Marginal + Small

83,481

(78.28)

92,822

(80.31)

107,624

(83.29)

117,061

(84.98)

53,721

(32.46)

58,843

(36.02)

65,127

(41.14)

70,546

(44.32)

0.64 0.63 0.61

0.6

Semi-Medium

(2.0 to 4.0

Hectares)

13,923

(13.06)

14,261

(12.34)

14,127

(10.93)

13,840

(10.05)

38,375

(23.19)

38,953

(23.85)

37,898

(23.94)

37,547

(23.59)

2.76 2.73 2.68 2.71

Medium (4.0 to

10.0 hectares)

7,580

(7.11)

7,092

(6.14)

6,375

(4.93)

5,856

(4.25)

44,752

(27.04)

41,398

(25.34)

36,583

(23.11)

33,709

(21.18)

5.9 5.84 5.74 5.76

Large (10.0

hectares

and above)

1,654

(1.55)

1,404

(1.21)

1,096

(0.85)

1,000

(0.73)

28,659

(17.32)

24,163

(14.79)

18,715

(11.82)

17,379

(10.92)

17.33 17.21 17.08 17.38

Total

106,637 115,580 129,222 137,757 165,507 163,357 158,323 159,181 1.55 1.41 1.23 1.16

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