India’s Shrinking Farms, Counted Every Five Years

The average Indian farm has been shrinking for over 50 years. A government count, taken every five years, is what actually proves this.

IndEco0202

1970-71

The First Census

Average holding size: 2.28 hectares

2015-16

The 10th Census

Average holding size falls to 1.08 hectares, 86% small or marginal

2022

The 11th Census Begins

Field work commences, for reference year 2021-22

21 JUL 2026

Data Collection Confirmed Complete

All three field-work phases finished, government confirms in Parliament

A 53% drop in 45 years: the average Indian farm shrank from 2.28 hectares in 1970-71 to 1.08 hectares by 2015-16.

📑 Contents

Timeline

1970-71: India conducts its first Agricultural Census, as part of the World Census of Agriculture.
Every 5 years since: The Census repeats on a fixed cycle, jointly with States and Union Territories.
2015-16: The 10th Census records 146 million operational holdings, with an average size of 1.08 hectares.
2022: Field work for the 11th Census begins, covering reference year 2021-22.
21 July 2026: The government confirms in Parliament that data collection for all three phases is complete.

The Agricultural Census is India’s official count of farmland, conducted every five years. It’s carried out jointly by the Centre and every State and Union Territory.
The first Census covered 1970-71, as India’s contribution to the World Census of Agriculture. The Census now underway, covering 2021-22, is the 11th round in the series.
Fieldwork runs in three phases. Phase I collects basic data on every holding, through complete enumeration. Phase II covers cropping patterns and irrigation, from a 20% sample of villages in each Tehsil.
Phase III covers input use, like fertiliser and machinery. This data comes from a smaller 7% sample of villages in each Tehsil.
Holdings are classified into five size categories. Marginal holdings are under 1 hectare, small holdings run 1-2 hectares, semi-medium 2-4 hectares, medium 4-10 hectares, and large holdings exceed 10 hectares.
By the 10th Census (2015-16), the average operational holding had shrunk to 1.08 hectares. This was down from 2.28 hectares recorded in the first Census, in 1970-71.
The same 2015-16 Census found 86% of India’s 146 million holdings were small or marginal. Marginal farmers alone held about 24% of all cultivated land, up from roughly 9% in 1970-71.

Shrinking holdings are driven partly by inheritance patterns. Agricultural land is typically divided among heirs when a farmer dies, so each generation’s plots grow smaller and more scattered.
The Census also tracks woman-operated holdings specifically. This data supports gender-targeted agricultural policy, rather than treating farmers as a single undifferentiated group.
Governments use Census data well beyond simple record-keeping. It feeds decisions on subsidy allocation, credit access, irrigation planning, and crop-diversification priorities.
The Census is run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. Each State and Union Territory carries out its own local fieldwork.
Researchers and planners treat Census data as a primary reference source. Very few other datasets offer this level of detail on India’s farmland, holding by holding.

Land fragmentation and land reform are closely linked policy problems in India. See IndEco0036 — Land Reforms in India: Objectives and Measures.
A halving of average farm size over 45 years is easy to state, but has real practical consequences. Smaller plots make mechanisation, irrigation investment, and market bargaining power all harder for an individual farmer.
The three-phase sampling design balances two competing needs. Complete enumeration in Phase I ensures no holding is missed entirely. Sampling in Phases II and III keeps the overall exercise practical at national scale.
The Census’s own numbers are the reason India’s agricultural policy focuses so heavily on small and marginal farmers specifically. They aren’t a minority needing special attention; by 2015-16, they were the clear majority.

On 21 July 2026, Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ramnath Thakur addressed Parliament. He gave a written Lok Sabha reply on the status of the ongoing 11th Agricultural Census. (Source: PIB)
He confirmed that field work and data collection for all three phases have been completed, within the planned time frame. (Source: PIB)
The reply reiterated the Census’s core purpose: providing a reliable database on operational holders, for agricultural policymaking. (Source: PIB)
It named three specific uses. These were efficient allocation of subsidies and credit, targeting rural development programmes, and setting national and regional agricultural priorities. (Source: PIB)