According to: http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/feb25/articles16.htm *The minimum amount of arable land required to sustainably support one person is 0.07 of a hectare. This assumes a largely vegetarian diet, no farmland degradation or water shortages, virtually no post- harvest waste, and farmers who know precisely when and how to plant, fertilize, irrigate, etc.*
This 1998 article says in 1990, per capita cropland in India was .20 hectares and projected availability in 2025 was *0.12 hectares* So if the below calculations are true, we have hit *0.13* hectares a dozen years earlier than projected...? This of course assumes there is no import/export of food. Regds, Meera ~ Bangalore's own interactive newsmagazine at www.citizenmatters.in ~ On Sat, Sep 8, 2012 at 2:05 PM, Rajesh Shah <[email protected]> wrote: > post by Chandra Ravikumar in HasiruUsiru, maybe someone wants to create a > visualization of this and allow manipulation and mashup of data ... > > ---------------------- > > Dear All, > During the past few years I had begun to wonder just how much land for > food would each Indian get as his/her share, if the land that is India, is > apportioned out evenly and equally among every citizen. The strain that the > growing population - legal and illegal, and the criminally stupid policies > of the Governments, are asserting on the rigidly fixed resource that is > Land, and knowing that just a little more, and the snapping point will be > reached, has been making me very uncomfortable and even seriously > disturbed. The recent posts of Leo on the per capita availability of open > spaces prompted me to resort to some statistics to answer my initial > question. > > I am posting the results of the little study I did on this. I have also > given the sources of the information, for verification. I am just a simple > addition/subtraction mathematician. I have done my best, rather I have > allowed my calculator to do its best, to get the numbers right. If anyone > notices a mistake or discrepancy, please feel free to correct it for the > sake of truth and verity. > > Anyone who is interested in using this information in any other place or > forum is free to do so. > > HOW MUCH LAND FOR FOOD DOES EACH CITIZEN OF INDIA REALLY HAVE? > > The Conversion Table: > > 1 square kilometer = 100 hectares OR 1hectare = 0.01 square kilometers. > > 1 hectare = 10000 square meters. > > 1 hectare = 2.41 acres OR 11664.4 square yards OR 104979.6 square feet. > > 1 acre = 4840 square yards OR 43560 square feet. > > 1 meter = 3.28 feet. > > > Some Definitions: (From Trading Economics) > > 1. The SURFACE AREA of a country is its total area, including areas under > inland bodies of water and some coastal waterways. > > 2. The LAND AREA of a country is its total area, excluding area under > inland water bodies (major rivers, lakes, coastal waterways), national > claims to continental shelf and exclusive economic zones. > > 3. AGRICULTURAL LAND refers to the share of the land area that is arable, > under permanent crops, and permanent pastures. > > 4. ARABLE LAND refers to (FAO definition) as land under temporary crops, > (double cropped areas are counted once), temporary meadows for mowing or > pasture, land under market or kitchen garden, and land temporarily fallow. > > 5. PERMANENT CROPS refers to land placed under cultivation of crops that > occupy the land for long periods of time and need not be replanted after > each harvest, such as cocoa, coffee, tea, rubber. It also includes > flowering shrubs, fruit trees, nut trees, and vines, but excludes trees > grown for wood or timber. > > 6. PERMANENT PASTURE is land used for 5 or more years for forage including > natural and cultivated crops. > > 7. FOREST AREA is land under natural or planted stands of trees of at > least 5 meters in situ, whether productive or not, (? question mark is > mine) and excludes tree stands in agricultural productive systems Eg. > Plantation, Agro-forestry systems, and trees in Urban Parks and Gardens. > > > Statistics for India: > > 1. The Surface Area (Geo-geographical area) including area under illegal > occupation of Pakistan and China = 3287240 sq.kms. > > 2. Area under illegal occupation of Pakistan and China = 120849 sq.kms. > > 3. The Land Area of India = 2973190 sq.kms. > > 4. The Forest Area in India = 677598 sq. kms. > > 5. The Forest Area of India as a % of the Land Area = 22.8% > > 6. The Agricultural Land Area of India = 1797080 sq.kms. OR 179708000 ha. > > 7. The Agricultural Land Area in % = 60.4% (I calculated it as > 1795806.7sq.kms.) > > 8. The Arable Land Area of India = 1580300 sq.kms. OR 158030000 hectares > > 9. The Arable Land Area in % = 53.2% (I calculated this to be 1581737 sq. > kms.) > > 10. Area of land under permanent crops in % = 3.8% > > 11. Length of Roadways in India, including both pucca and kutcha= 17,00000 > kms. (Seventeen lakh kms.) > > 12. Length of metal led roadways in India = 700000 kms. (seven lakh kms.) > > 13. Area required by 17,00000 kms. of roads with an average width of 10 > mts. = 17,000 sq. kms. > > 14. The Population of India by the census of 2011 = 1210193422 persons. > > 15. The Agricultural Land per person in India = 0.14 ha. OR 1400 sq mts. > OR 15069.474 sft. > > 16. The Arable Land per person in India = 0.1 ha. OR 1000sq.mts. OR > 10763.910 sft. > > 17. On the Global Hunger Index, we are placed at place 67 out of 81 rated > countries. Even Rwanda is better than us at rank 60! > > > III. What does all the above statistics REALLY mean for the Indian citizen? > > 1. The amount of land available to each person for production of all that > he consumes from organic sources, is about 15000 sft. This includes i.) > his food - cereals, pulses, oils, vegetables, fruit, spices, condiments, > sugars, milk and all milk products, medicinal and other herbs, tea, coffee, > cocoa and other beverages, and everything else ii) his cleaning agents and > toiletries iii) his clothing, bedding, furnishings, and such like iv) his > furniture, paper, books and all stationery, and everything made of > plantation products v) And a thousand things that have not occurred to me. > Minus from that, land that is left fallow; or crops destroyed due to > flooding, drought, salination, lack of labour, erosion of topsoil, > destructive agricultural practices et al - and what does one have left? > Less than 10000 sft. each. > > 10000 sft. is just a 100ft x 100ft site. > 10000 sft. is about just 1/18th part of a cricket pitch. > 10000 sft. is about the area a child can run across in 50 steps. > > 2. Every site that we carve out of agricultural land is taking the food > out of the mouth of one person in India. > > 3. Every acre of agricultural land that we convert to non- agricultural > purposes, we are driving to total destitution and poverty 4 adults and 1 > child. > > 4. In the last decade Uttar Pradesh alone has lost 6 million (YES!) > hectares of land to the development of the National Capital Region (NPR). > The Yamuna Super Highway project includes plans for a high-tech city that > will take away 45000 hectares of land that is being cultivated by 1191 > villages. This is RICH agricultural land, maybe one of the best in the > world, the legendary DOAB, that easily produces 3 crops and many > intercroppings every year. > This Yamuna Highway alone will take the last morsel away from the mouths > of at least 484376 adults and double that many children. > > 5. Every kilometer of a 10 meter width road that is built, will take away > 1 ha. OR 10000 sq. mts. OR 107639 sft. of land, AND condemn to starvation > at least 11 adults or 22 children. > > 6. Every illegal immigrant into our country will displace one citizen to a > nowhere land, for there is no land to feed even one person more. > > 7. Every child born, before one person dies, or to put it another way, > every one person who does not die for one child born eats into the sparse > land resource available to grow our food. > > So every inch of good crop land that is diverted to other uses such as an > investment alternative in the form of sites; or mindless urban expansion, > or a flamboyant race track that is obscene in its sheer waste; or SEC > blocks; or 8 lane highways to accommodate the 'car-pulation' bomb and the > speedniks who want to reach everywhere in no time; they all condemn more > and more to hunger, malnutrition, deprivation and even death. > > I have not been comprehensive enough. There is much more to say. So please > feel welcome to speak. There are many of us > listening. > > Thank you. > > Chandra > > Sources for reference : > > > > http://cpsindia.org/index.php/art/123-articles-by-jk-bajaj-and-md-srinivas/food-consumption-in-india-and-the-world > > http://www.tradingeconomics.com/ > > http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_And_You/area_and_population.aspx > > http://faostat.fao.org/site/339/default.aspx > > > http://makanaka.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/the-cost-of-indias-urban-land-grab/ > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_India > > http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php > > http://www.agricoop.nic.in/Nrm/STATNRM.pdf > > > http://www.indiastat.com/agriculture/2/agriculturalarealanduse/152/stats.aspx > > http://www.worldwatch.org/node/554 > > -- > For more details about this list > http://datameet.org/discussions/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "datameet" group. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > > > -- For more details about this list http://datameet.org/discussions/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "datameet" group. 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