1.3. Agricultural Land Use in India

The term 'agriculture' has been derived from two Latin words ager meaning land and culture meaning cultivation. Agriculture thus means cultivation of land. Agriculture also includes horticulture, animal husbandry, forestry, fishing, etc. Agriculture, unlike other secondary and tertiary sectors, depends directly on the on the land use patterns in the country. Quality and fertility of land has a direct bearing on the productivity of agriculture. Besides in rural areas,

aside from its value as a productive factor, land ownership has a social value and serves as a security for credit, natural hazards or life contingencies, and also adds to the social status. It has been observed that over the years, there has been a marginal decline in the available total stock of cultivable land as a percentage to total reporting area. The scope for bringing in additional land under net sown area in India is limited. There is, thus, an urgent need to evolve and adopt land-saving technologies. It can be achieved either by increasing the yield of any particular crop per unit area of land or by increasing the total output per unit area of land from all crops grown over one agricultural year by increasing land-use intensity. A high value of cropping intensity3 is desirable for improving the agricultural output in India.