Fewer cultivators, farm labourers in TN

Kancheepuram,19/04/2013:For Agriculture:Sowing in progress: Farm laborers at work on a paddy field at Kurvimalai village in Kancheepuram disrtict,Tamil Nadu on Friday. Photo:B_Jothi Ramalingam.

The latest 2011 census has recorded a decrease in the number of cultivators and agricultural labourers in Tamil Nadu.

As per the census, only 42.1 per cent of the total workers were involved in agricultural activities, compared to 49.3 per cent in 2001.

There were 32.9 million workers in the State, of which 4.25 million are cultivators and 9.6 million agricultural labourers.

The total number of cultivators in 2001 and 2011 were 18.4 per cent and 12.9 per cent, while agricultural labourers during the period were 31 per cent and 29.2 per cent respectively.

“More than half of females (54.9 per cent) are engaged in agricultural activities, whereas one-in-three males (35.3 per cent) are engaged in this sector,” the report said.

During the decade 2001-11, there was a fall of about 8.7 lakh cultivators.

The total number of workers in the state in 2011 were 32,884,681, of which 18,861,330 were in rural and 14,023,351 in urban areas.

The work participation rate in 2001 and 2011 census were at 44.7 per cent and 45.6 per cent respectively.

Villupuram district in north Tamil Nadu has the highest number of cultivators and agricultural labourers at 3.7 lakh and 8.3 lakh respectively.