This is Dr. BL Jangid, working as Principal Scientist (Agricultural Extension) under ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Regional Research Station, Pali 306401, Rajasthan, India. I would like to respond to Message 56 by Dr. Mahesh Chander, about classification of land in India. As per Government of India (2015), the operational holding are classified as below- S. No. Size-group I. Marginal 1. Below 0.50 ha, 2. 0.50 ha -1.00 ha (0.50 < 1.00) II. Small 3. 1.00 ha - 2.00 ha (1.00 < 2.00) III. Semi-Medium 4. 2.00 ha - 3.00 ha (2.00 < 3.00) 5. 3.00 ha - 4.00 ha (3.00 < 4.00) IV. Medium 6. 4.00 ha - 5.00 ha (4.00 < 5.00) 7. 5.00 ha -7.50 ha (5.00 < 7.50) 8. 7.50 ha -10.00 ha (7.50 < 10.00) V. Large 9. 10.00 ha -20.00 ha (10.00 < 20.00) 10. 20.00 ha and above And accordingly the holders of the lands are classified for all revenue and administrative purposes in India. The all government subsidies under various development programmes are made available to the farmers on this basis. The recent trends shows that the number of marginal holding are increasing day by day at the fastest rates due to continuous fragmentation of medium and large size holdings, followed by small holding. The average size of holdings had shown a consistent decline over the year. In 1970-71 it was 2.28 hectares, which reduced to 1.15 hectares in 2010-11. Thus, it indicates that marginal and small farms are increasing. B L Jangid, PhD, ARS Principal Scientist (Agricultural Extension) ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute Regional Research Station, PB#30 Pali-Marwar 306401 (Rajasthan) India E-mail: BL.Jangid (at) icar.gov.in Reference: Government of India (2015). All India Report on Agriculture Census 2010-11. Agriculture Census Division, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India. http://agcensus.nic.in/document/ac1011/reports/air2010-11complete.pdf (15 MB) [To contribute to this conference, send your message to [log in to unmask] For further information, see http://www.fao.org/nr/research-extension-systems/res-home/news/detail/en/c/434322/ ]. ######################################################################## To unsubscribe from the SMALL-FARMS-L list, click the following link: https://listserv.fao.org/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=SMALL-FARMS-L&A=1