(a) the total area of arable land under farming in the country especially in the Buldhana Parliamentary Constituency of Maharashtra and other backward areas;
(b) the details thereof;
(c) the total area of land that can be brought under farming, State-wise;
(d) the loss incurred due to non-farming on such land; and
(e) the steps proposed to be taken by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
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(a) & (b): As per the latest data available on land use statistics, arable / agricultural land in the country in 2014-15 was 181.88 million hectares. The district wise details of cultivable area of the state of Maharashtra, including the district of Buldhana, for the year 2014-15 is given at Annexure.
(c) to (e): As per Seventh Schedule of Constitution of India, land comes under the purview of State Government and, therefore, it is for the State Governments to take suitable steps to bring more area under farming. However, Government of India supplements the efforts of States, through appropriate policy measures and budgetary support.
In order to check decline in the cultivable land / arable land in the country, under the National Policy for Farmers – 2007 (NPF-2007), State Governments have been advised to earmark lands with low biological potential such as uncultivable land, land affected by salinity, acidity, etc., for non-agricultural development activities, including industrial and construction activities. National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy – 2007 (NRRP-2007) has also recommended that as far as possible, projects may be set up on waste land, degraded land or un-irrigated land and acquisition of irrigated, multi-cropped agricultural land for non-agricultural uses may be kept to the minimum and avoided, to the extent possible. Further, Ministry of Rural Development is implementing an Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) for development of rainfed/ degraded areas. The IWMP has been converted to the Watershed Component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) from the financial year 2015-16.
With a view to prevent soil erosion, land degradation and also to maintain balance in various types of land uses across the country, Government of India is implementing National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA). Under this mission, all types of land including wasteland/barren land are developed with suitable need based soil and water conservation measures and parts of such degraded lands developed are put to agricultural practices, leading to net sown area remaining largely unchanged around 141 million hectares in the last two decades.