Notes on agricultural land use policy in India

Picture for representation. (Source: ITM University)

The National Land Use and Conservation Board is mainly concerned for the framing of national land use policy. And, agricultural land use policy is, in fact, the part of this policy. India’s first land use policy was declared in 1988 – titled, Prospective Plan for Conservation, Management and Development of Land Resource.

Within the policy, agricultural land use was emphasized under the following heads –

1.  The policy did not propose to increase acreage under agricultural land use. It was already 54 per cent including the fallow lands. So, the basic aim was to improve agricultural productivity of the existing agricultural land. More emphasis was given over the improvement of degrading agricultural lands and the fallow lands which were about 95 million hectare of agricultural land.

2.  Introduction of crop rotation. Crop rotation is essential to maintain the health of land resource. For example, for dry zones of India having no canal irrigation, cultivation of coarse grain or millets is suggested as the main crop. It is to be followed by gram or masoor (lentil) cropping. This crop rotation would maintain the nutrient level of the land. Rajasthan implemented such scheme at block level to maintain the crop rotation.

3.  Emphasis was given over to improve the intensity of crops in India.

4.  To work for diffusion of agricultural infrastructure for improving the productivity and efficiency of the agricultural land of India.

5.  Big landholders are now being persuaded not to leave thin lands unused. Land reform is taken as part of the agricultural land use policy. Landlords have not been using the land scientifically. Vast lands of the landlords remain unused creating land-degradation. Despite all these only three per cent of landlords have 20 per cent agricultural land and 59 per cent farmers have only 14 per cent of agricultural land. This is the cause of rural distress in India. In some parts of the country, this problem has taken the form of maoist violence or naxalism. It is emphasized to bring land reform in these areas.

6.  Levelling and bunding of degraded agricultural land. The programme was suggested for the Himalayan states, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and South-West part of Uttar Pradesh.

7.  Land use development was suggested to be carried out on the basis of agro-climatic regionalization of India. India is divided into 15 agro-climatic regions. For every region, sustainable agricultural land use map was to be prepared at state and district level.

8.  Sustainable agricultural land development was emphasized where programmes like greater use of bio-fertilizers are promoted for green revolution belts of India including the command areas in particular, and agricultural land in general.

9.  Some other programme is watershed management programme under which land resource units of micro-level is to be developed on drainage lines.

10. National land use and conservation board has suggested the state governments to prepare micro-level watershed units and to take 5,000 hectare-size land as the standard unit for the purpose of development of land resource. Rajasthan was one state which framed policy in accordance with this suggestion.

11. Crop diversity is to be promoted in the tribal regions. Tribals have the tradition of crop-association and diversity. In such regions, economically viable association of crops was suggested to tribal farmers.

At the turn of the century, the then government brought some changes in the existing agricultural land use policy and now apart from target areas, target years were also fixed. Emphasis was given on economic and ecological management of land resource.

In 2013, a new land use policy was formulated.  The goal of the National Land Utilisation Policy was defined as to achieve improvement of livelihood, food and water security, and best possible realization of various developmental targets so as to ensure sustainable development of India. (Draft of Policy: http://dolr.nic.in/dolr/downloads/PDFs/Draft%20National%20Land%20Utilisation%20Policy%20(July%202013).pdf)

The specific objectives of the policy were set out as under:

Objectives related to social concerns

1. Protection of agricultural lands from land use conversions so as to ensure food security and to meet consumption needs of a growing population and to meet livelihood needs of the dependent population.

2. To identify and protect lands that are required to promote and support social development, particularly of tribal communities and poor section of society for their livelihood.

3. To preserve historic and cultural heritage by protecting, places/sites of religious, archaeological, scenic and tourist importance.

Objectives related to environmental concerns

4. To preserve and conserve lands under important environmental functions such as those declared as National Parks, Wild Life Sanctuaries, Reserved Forests, Eco Sensitive Zones, etc and guide land uses around such preserved and conserved areas so as not to have land use conflicts or negative environmental impacts.

5. To preserve the areas of natural environment and its resources that provide ecosystem services.

Objectives related to developmental/economic concerns

6. To promote properly guided and coordinated development in a sustainable manner of all developmental sectors including agriculture, urban, industrial, infrastructure and mining so as to minimise land use conflicts or negative environmental impacts.

Objectives related to enforcement and implementation of the policy

7. To suggest a general implementation framework for implementing land utilisation policy by all concerned at different levels, viz, national, state, regional and local, and undertaking capacity building.

The following six types of Land Utilisation Zones (LUZs) are to be identified on the basis of predominant land use:

a) Predominantly Rural and Agricultural Areas

b) Areas Under Transformation

c) Predominantly Urban Areas

d) Predominantly Industrial Areas

e) Predominantly Ecological Areas, Landscape Conservation and Tourism Areas. Heritage Areas

f) Major Hazard Vulnerable Areas

Besides, the “Land-use Management Areas” (LMAs) are to be identified within the identified Land Utilisation Zones, during the planning process, so as to ensure proper management of various land uses.

For the purpose of ensuring proper management of lands, the Land-use Management Zones are categorised into:

a) Protected Areas;

b) Regulatory Areas;

c) Reserved Areas; and

d) Guided Development Areas

The implementation and success of the agricultural land use policies depend on politico-administrative commitment, people’s participation and cooperation of NGOs.