UPSC Prelims 2023 Q26: Small Farmer Large Field — Explained
Which one of the following best describes the concept of 'Small Farmer Large Field'?
- Resettlement of a large number of people, uprooted from their countries due to war, by giving them a large cultivable land which they cultivate collectively and share the produce
- Many marginal farmers in an area organize themselves into groups and synchronize and harmonize selected agricultural operations
- Many marginal farmers in an area together make a contract with a corporate body and surrender their land to the corporate body for a fixed term for which the corporate body makes a payment of agreed amount to the farmers
- A company extends loans, technical knowledge and material inputs to a number of small farmers in an area so that they produce the agricultural commodity required by the company for its manufacturing process and commercial production
Answer: (b) Many marginal farmers in an area organize themselves into groups and synchronize and harmonize selected agricultural operations
Statement-wise explanation
- a: incorrect — This describes resettling war refugees on common land that they farm and share collectively. 'Small Farmer Large Field' has nothing to do with displaced people or giving out new land. The farmers in it already own their small plots and keep owning and farming them.
- b: correct — In 'Small Farmer Large Field' (SFLF), neighbouring small and marginal farmers form a group. They synchronise key operations: one variety, a shared nursery, and transplanting and harvesting around the same dates. Their scattered plots then work like one large field, so machines, input buying and output sales get the benefit of scale. Each farmer keeps their own land. The model grew in Vietnam's rice areas from 8 ha in 2011 to about 1.96 lakh ha in 2015. IRRI piloted it in India in Odisha in the 2017 dry season.
- c: incorrect — Handing land over to a company for a fixed term in return for an agreed payment is land leasing or corporate farming. In SFLF the farmers keep control of their land and do the farming themselves. They cooperate only on timing and inputs.
- d: incorrect — A company giving credit, technical know-how and inputs to farmers so they grow the produce it needs is contract farming. India's Model Contract Farming Act, 2018 covers this kind of arrangement. In SFLF the farmers organise themselves sideways, farmer to farmer. They do not tie up under a single buyer company.
How to eliminate
The name is the clue. 'Small Farmer' says the farmers stay small and keep their own plots. 'Large Field' says those plots work together as one unit. Now test each option. The first is about war refugees getting new land, which is a resettlement idea, not a farming model. The third has farmers giving up their land to a company, so they stop being farmers on that field. That is leasing or corporate farming. The fourth is a company-led input-and-buyback deal, which is the standard definition of contract farming. You should recognise it as a different, well-known concept. Only the second option keeps both parts of the name: small owners stay small, and they organise themselves to farm as one big field. If you know contract farming and corporate farming well, you can solve this without ever having heard of SFLF.
Know more
Why small farms struggle. In India, about 86% of holdings are small or marginal (under 2 ha). The average holding is about 1.1 ha (Agriculture Census 2015-16). Such tiny, scattered plots make tractors, harvesters, bulk input buying and bargaining with traders expensive per acre.
Small Farmer Large Field (SFLF) gets the benefits of scale without changing who owns the land. Neighbouring farmers form a group and synchronise selected operations:
- one common seed variety
- a group nursery
- land preparation and transplanting in the same window
- harvesting at the same time, so a combine harvester can cover the whole block
The model started in Vietnam's Mekong Delta rice belt. It grew from 8 ha in 2011 to about 1.96 lakh ha by 2015. IRRI, with local partners and IFFCO, piloted it in Taraboisasan village, Odisha, in 2017. There, 54 farmers on 38 ha raised a group nursery of a single variety.
How it differs from similar models
| Model | Who controls the land | Who drives it | Core idea |
|---|---|---|---|
| SFLF | Each farmer | The farmer group | Synchronise operations to get scale |
| Cooperative / FPO | Each farmer | Members' registered body | Pool inputs, produce and marketing |
| Contract farming | Each farmer | Buyer company | Agree buyback, inputs and price before sowing |
| Land leasing / corporate farming | Company, for the lease period | Company | Farmer gets rent and stops cultivating |
| Cooperative (collective) farming | Pooled | Society | Land pooled and farmed jointly |
An SFLF group can later register as an FPO. India's Central Sector Scheme for 10,000 FPOs (launched 2020) relies on the same idea of collective scale for small farmers.
NCERT Concepts to Revise
- Fragmentation of landholdings: Small, scattered plots are the problem any 'small farmer, large field' arrangement is designed to overcome.
- Contract farming: One option describes a company-led input-and-buyback deal; knowing contract farming lets you identify it.
- Farmer producer organisation: FPOs are the registered form of farmer aggregation in India, close kin to the group idea tested here.
- Cooperative marketing: Pooling produce through a society is another way of collective scale; compare it with how the question frames group action.