October - December 2012 - National Institute of Rural Development

Status of Tenancy in Uttar Pradesh: Some Facts from the Field 403district to 4.07 acres in Jhansi district (Table13). Average leased-in land per tenant was1.61 acres, which was higher than land ownedper household (1.19 acres). Only in Etahdistrict average area owned per householdwas higher than the average area leased-inby all households. In Lakhimpur, Hardoi andEtah districts, entire leased-in and owned landwas irrigated. In Jhansi district, which wasgenerally drought-prone, leased-in area wasalmost fully irrigated even though only 28per cent of owned area was irrigated.Table 13 : Land Owned and Leased-in Per Tenant Household (in acre)District Lakhimpur Hardoi Sultanpur Etah Jhansi AllLand owned(a) Average per household 0.82 0.68 0.65 1.90 1.72 1.19(b) Percentage of irrigated land 100.00 100.00 91.50 100.00 27.68 77.56Land leased-in(a) Average per household 1.70 1.22 1.24 1.37 2.77 1.61(b) Percentage of irrigated land 100.00 100.00 92.18 100.00 96.69 97.52Land (Total)(a) Average per household 1.89 1.63 1.76 3.08 4.07 2.45(b) Percentage of irrigated land 100.00 100.00 91.85 100.00 74.63 70.64Source : Field Survey.Crop Production : Table 14 presents farmcharacteristics of the sample households.Tenants have reported that they used majorpart of their cultivated area for foodgraincultivation. It indicated that leasing-in of landwas mainly to meet food requirement. Wheatand paddy were the dominant cropscultivated both on owned and leased-in land.The percentage of irrigated area in leased-inland was also generally higher than that ofowned land. Productivity levels of all thecrops grown on leased-in land were foundto be higher than the productivity realisedon the owned land. All this indicated thattenants were cultivating leased-in land moreefficiently than their owned land and theywere realising better productivity from theleased-in land as compared to their own land.This could be due to the fact that the qualityof leased-in land may be superior to qualityof owned land and better irrigation facilitieswere available on the leased in land.Journal of Rural Development, Vol. 31, No. 4, October - December : 2012