Agricultural Census of India

The Agriculture Census is conducted by Ministry of Agriculture every five years since 1970 as
a part of World Agriculture Census Programme. It is conducted in three phases.

Phase I – The operational holding in the country are enumerated for various administrative
levels like Block/Tehsil, District and State according to various size classes, social groups,
types of holding and gender.
Phase II – It is conducted in selected 20 per cent villages in each Tehsil for collecting detailed
data on irrigation status, tenancy particulars, cropping pattern and dispersal of holdings,
etc. The field work of Phase-II has been completed in 28 States/UTs and progressing in
remaining States/UTs.
Phase III – It is referred as Input Survey which is conducted in 7 percent of villages, as a
follow up survey to the Agriculture Census (reference year as next Agriculture year to that of
the Agriculture Census) to collect data on input use pattern of operational holdings in the
country.
The work of Phase I of the Tenth Agriculture Census 2015-16 has been completed.

Summary for Tenth Agriculture Census 2015-16

• In agriculture Census, the operational holdings are categorised in five size classes as
follows:-

Sl. No. Category Size-Class

1. Marginal Below 1.00 hectare

2. Small 1.00-2.00 hectare

Semi-
3. 2.00-4.00 hectare
Medium

4. Medium 4.00-10.00 hectare

10.00 hectare and

5. Large
above
• Small and marginal farmers with less than two hectares of land account for 86.2% of all
farmers in India, but own just 47.3% of the crop area.
• The percentage of female operational land holders increased from 12.79% in 2010-11
to 13.87% in 2015-16.
• The total number of operational holdings grew from 138 million hectares to 146 million
hectares.
• The highest increase in terms of Operational Holdings is topped by Madhya Pradesh
followed by Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan.
• Uttar Pradesh accounted for the largest number of operational holdings or farmers at
23.8 million followed by Bihar (16.4 million) and Maharashtra (14.7 million).
• The average size of farm holding was the highest in Nagaland at 5.06 hectares and the
lowest in Kerala at 0.18 hectare.
• By the number of people tilling the land, UP topped the chart followed by Bihar and
Maharashtra.
• Uttar Pradesh had 23.82 million farmers and tillers in 2015-16, followed by Bihar at
16.41 million and Maharashtra with 14.71 million.
• Decline of operated area to 157.14 million hectares from 159.59 million hectare in
2010-2011.
• In terms of operated area – Rajasthan (20.87 million ha) is at the top followed by
Maharashtra and UP.
• To improve the condition of Small and Marginal farmers and to Double the Income of
farmers by 2022, Government is realigning its interventions from Production-Centric
approach to Farmers' Income-Centric initiatives.
 It includes implementation of schemes like –
 Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY)
 Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)
 Soil Health Card
 Neem Coated Urea
 Rainfed Area Development under National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
(NMSA)
 Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)
  National Agriculture Market scheme (e-NAM)
 National Food Security Mission (NFSM)
 National Mission on Oilseeds & Oilpalm (NMOOP)
 Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)
 Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)
 National Mission on Agriculture Extension & Technology (NMAET)

Important content from Ninth Agriculture Census 2010-11 – Input Survey

2011-12
1. For 96.95 per cent of operational holdings, entire operated area was located within the
village of residence.

2. Cropping Pattern – Data has been analyzed on the basis of Nine major crops and
remaining crops which are classified as ‘other crops’. (Nine Crops + Other Crops = All
crops)
• Nine major crops – Paddy, Jowar, Bajra, Maize, Wheat, Tur (Arhar), Sugarcane,
Groundnut and Cotton
• Under Gross Irrigated Area, paddy was the most dominant crop having a share of
33.5 percent followed by wheat (30.3 percent).
• In case of Gross Unirrigated Area, paddy accounted for the highest share of 18.9
percent followed by maize (8.7 percent).

3. Fertilizers – The most commonly used chemical fertilizers are Urea, Di-Ammonium
Phosphate, Super Phosphate, Potash, complex fertilizers, fertilizer mixture and
micronutrient fertilizers like Ammonium Sulphate etc.
• The use of Nitrogen for ‘all crops’ at All India level was 128.9 kg./ha. in Irrigated area
against 76.4 kg./ha. in Unirrigated area.
• The use of Phosphorous at all India level in irrigated area was 57.8 kg./ha. against
38.3 kg./ha. In unirrigated area.
• The use of Potash (K) was 21.6 kg./ha. in irrigated area against 13.7 kg./ha. In
unirrigated area.
4. Livestock –

5. Institutional Credit – The institutional credit has been categorized into short term,
medium-term and long-term.
• The percentage of operational holders availing institutional credit for agricultural
purposes from various institutions was 34.5% at All India level with 28.6% in case of
marginal, 44.5% for small, 47.5% for semi-medium, 51.4% for medium and 52.4% for
large holdings.

6. It was also found that 41.90 percent of farmers purchased certified seeds from
Agriculture Departments of State Governments making it the second largest source as
out of estimated 54.43 million operational holders using certified seeds.

7. 57.78% of Farmers procured certified seeds from private seed dealers.