Semi-medium holding
Topic: Land Reforms, the Green Revolution and Farm Subsidies · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
A semi-medium holding is an operational land holding of 2 hectares or more but less than 4 hectares. It is the middle size class in India's Agriculture Census, which is held every five years. An operational holding means all the land one person farms as a single unit, whether owned or leased in. Semi-medium holdings sit between the small farms that dominate India and the fewer, larger farms above them.
Example
A farmer owns 1.5 ha and leases in 1 ha from a neighbour. On ownership alone, the farmer would be a small farmer. But the operational holding is 2.5 ha, so the farmer counts as semi-medium. For comparison, India's average holding was about 1.08 ha in 2015-16.
Don't confuse with
- Small holding (1-2 ha) and medium holding (4-10 ha): these are the classes on either side, with boundaries at 2 ha and 4 ha.
- Ownership holding: the class depends on land operated, not land owned.
Related concepts
- Land ceiling
- Operational land holding
- Marginal holding
- Small holding
- Medium holding
- Large holding
- Fragmentation of land holdings
- Consolidation of land holdings
- Cooperative farming