The Kerala government is planning to introduce a bill approving lease farming legally. It’s a move that authorities expect to be a turning point for Keralawhich includes large plots of land remaining fallow. According to the authorities, legalising lease farming will give a big push to agriculture start-ups, which need large plots of land for hi-tech and scientific farming. Mechanisation of agriculture will also get a stimulus once large plots of land are available for commercial cultivation.
Fallow land utilised after legalising lease farming
According to authorities,the state currently has 1,03,334 hectares of fallow land, of which 49,420 hectares are permanently fallow. The rest of the land, around 53,914 hectares, has been classified under current fallow, or lying unused in recent times.
One of the officials stated that in Kerala, 35 per cent of horticulture and vegetable production is via tenant farming, though such practices violate the provisions of the Kerala Land Reforms Act. Currently, tenant farming is done according to an agreement between a land owner and a tenant for a particular period. By legalising this contract, tenant farmers will be able to access bank loans, crop insurance and other benefits, calling it a win-win for both sides.
Bill is being introduced after 9 years of the NITI Aayog Bill
The Kerala government is introducing a Bill for tenant farming nine years after the NITI Aayog released the Model Land Leasing Act in 2016. It was intended to give a legal framework for lease farming. States including Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Andhra Pradesh framed lease farming laws on a subsequent basis. Discussions for such a law have been ongoing at various levels in Kerala.