Agriculture

KEY POINTS

·         There is no legal ban on land leasing in states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Rajasthan.

·         But, it is totally banned without any exception in Kerala and with some exceptions in Odisha.

·         While laws governing land leasing in Indian states vary relating to restrictions, period of lease, tenant rights regulation on rent, etc,

·         All these restrictive land-leasing legislations have led to informal or concealed tenancy without security of tenure.

Impacts of weak land holding rights

·         Weak land rights lead to tenure insecurity that ultimately results in reduced land productivity because of poor land management and land degradation.

·         Insecure and informal tenancy adversely affected cultivators’ access to institutional credit, insurance, disaster relief and other support services.

·         The situation, where the beneficiaries of agricultural support services have been the land-owners and not the actual tillers, has fuelled problems of farmer suicides, default on agricultural loans among others.

·         It is indeed alarming that 10-20% of cultivable land remains fallow across the country.

·         Occupational mobility of landowners is often suggested to absorb surplus workforce from primary sector into other employment opportunities.

·         However, this desired objective has never been met in a restricted land-leasing regime, as fear of losing the land continues even today if the landowners lease their own lands and migrate out for other activities.

·         All these factors compound the non-realisation of India’s Agri-potential.

·         Therefore, the introduction of transparent land leasing laws that allow the potential tenant or sharecropper to engage in written contracts with the landowner is a win-win reform.

Merits of Land leasing system

·         Ensuring land rights through a legal framework incentivises the cultivators (lessees/tenants/share croppers) to invest (and also conserve) in the land resources.

·         Tenure security of cultivated land enhances food security.

·         Landowner will be able to lease land without fear of losing it to the tenant.

·         The government will be able to implement its policies efficiently.

·         The government’s support services such as subsidies, disaster relief will directly reach to the beneficiaries (the tillers).

·         Lease farming is now conclusively recognised as an “economic necessity” and no more a symbol of “feudal agrarian structure” that India inherited after Independence.