Tenancy
Also called: Tenancy and sharecropping, Sharecroppers, Tenants · Topic: Land Reforms, the Green Revolution and Farm Subsidies · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 2 "Sectors of the Indian Economy"; Class 11, Ch 1 "Indian Economy on the Eve of Independence"; Class 11, Ch 2 "Indian Economy 1950-1990"
Meaning
Tenancy is an arrangement where a cultivator farms land owned by someone else and pays rent for it. The rent can take three forms: a fixed cash rent, a fixed rent in kind (a set quantity of grain), or a share of the crop. The last form is called sharecropping (bataidari, or bargadari in Bengal). Tenancy matters because a tenant has less reason than an owner to invest in the land. This was the core problem that land reforms tried to fix.
Example
A sharecropper splits the harvest 50:50 with the owner. A ₹100 dose of fertiliser would raise output by ₹150, but the tenant keeps only ₹75. The tenant skips the fertiliser, even though it would pay for the economy as a whole. This is the Marshallian argument for why sharecropping is inefficient.
Don't confuse with
- Land leasing: this is legal, time-bound renting with the owner's title kept secure. NITI Aayog's Model Agricultural Land Leasing Act 2016 promotes it. Tenancy is the broader term and also covers informal and insecure arrangements.