FARM SIZE AND LAND USE INTENSITY IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE

The inverse relationship between farm size and land use intensity in Indian agriculture is examined. The main body of farm-level data for India comes from a survey conducted by the National Sample Survey. The relationship is examined in terms of 2 different definitions of land use, namely, net area sown and gross cropped area. It is shown that the conventional way of defining farm size in terms of physical size of operational holding would lead to misleading inferences since mere physical size does not distinguish between land that has irrigation facilities and that does not. Since irrigation makes a substantial difference to the level of both extensive and intensive use of land, the farm size should be defined at least in terms of the 2 attributes of land - land with and without irrigation facilities. Using the conventional definition of farm size in the regression equation leads to biased estimates of elasticities of land use with respect to size resulting in the misleading influence that there are diseconomies of scale in the use of land.