India’s Shrinking Farms, Counted Every Five Years

India’s average farm has shrunk by more than half in 45 years. A count taken once every five years is how we know that, field by field.

What the Agricultural Census Counts

The Agricultural Census counts every operational holding in India. It runs once every five years.

• The Centre and the States and UTs conduct it jointly. The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare runs it.
• India’s first Census covered the year 1970-71. It was India’s share of the World Census of Agriculture.

Eleven Rounds Since 1970-71

The Census now underway is the 11th round. Its reference year is 2021-22.

• On 21 July 2026, the Minister of State for Agriculture, Ramnath Thakur, gave a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
• He confirmed that fieldwork for all three phases of the 11th Census is complete. It finished within the planned time frame.
• He also restated the Census’s core purpose. It builds a reliable database on farm operators, for use in policymaking.

Three Phases of Fieldwork

Each Census round is carried out in three separate phases.

• Phase I: A complete enumeration. Every single holding is counted, with its area and how it is used.
• Phase II: Collects cropping and irrigation data. This comes from a 20% sample of villages in each Tehsil.
• Phase III: Collects data on input use, such as fertiliser and machinery. This comes from a smaller 7% sample of villages per Tehsil.
• The Census also separately tracks holdings operated by women. This data feeds gender-targeted farm policy.

Five Size Categories, a Shrinking Average

The Census sorts every holding into one of five size categories.

By the 10th Census, with reference year 2015-16, the average holding had shrunk sharply.

• That 2015-16 round counted 146 million holdings nationwide.
• Of those, 86% were small or marginal holdings, under 2 hectares each.

Why Holdings Keep Shrinking

Inheritance is a major driver of this fragmentation.

• When a landowner dies, their land is usually divided among their heirs. Each generation, plots get smaller.
• Census data has several direct policy uses. These include allocating subsidies, deciding credit access, and planning irrigation.
• It also guides crop-diversification priorities for different regions.
• This topic connects closely to Land Reforms in India. Fragmentation and land reform are closely linked issues.

Census vs Survey — The Exam Trap

Exam options often confuse a Census with a Survey. Watch for these two traps.

• Frequency Trap: The Agricultural Census runs every five years, with complete enumeration in Phase I. A Survey, like the Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households, is different. It runs annually, and uses sampling throughout, not a complete count.
• Figure-Swap Trap: Options sometimes swap 2.28 hectares (1970-71) with 1.08 hectares (2015-16). They may also mix up “marginal” (under 1 hectare) with “small” (1 to 2 hectares) when citing the 86% figure.