Question : SMALL AGRICULTURAL HOLDINGS

(a) whether agricultural holdings are small and marginal in the country, if so, the details thereof, State-wise;

(b) whether the Government proposes to promote integrated/joint farming to get better agricultural output from small scale cultivation so as to deal with the issue of food security in the country;

(c) if so, the details thereof;

(d) the details of financial assistance provided under the National Mission on sustainable Agriculture for the purposes during the current year and the benefits accrued to the beneficiaries/farmers thereunder; and

(e) the details of areas under the integrated/joint farming in the country, State-wise?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE ( SHRI MOHANBHAI KUNDARIA )

(a): As per the latest Agriculture Census 2010-11, State-wise percentage of marginal and small operational holdings are given in the Annexure-I.

(b)&(c): The National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), a Mission/Scheme of the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation promotes location specific Integrated/Composite Farming System to make Agriculture more productive, sustainable, remunerative and climate resilient.

Rainfed Area Development Programme (RADP), a component of the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture aims at promoting Integrated Farming System (IFS) with emphasis on multi-cropping, rotational cropping, inter-cropping, mixed-cropping practices with allied activities like horticulture, livestock, fishery, agro-forestry, apiculture, etc. to enable farmers to not only maximizing the farm returns for sustaining livelihood, but also to mitigate impacts of extreme weather events.

(d)&(e): The details of area approved for integrated farming system clusters and corresponding assistance provided to the States under Rainfed Area Development (RAD) component of National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture is given in the Annexure-ll.