Last reviewed 1 Oct 2026 · Facts as of 1 Oct 2026 · 9 min read
Agricultural statistics change every year. This note gives methods, definitions and dated reference figures. A number with a year (for example "Agricultural Census 2015–16") was true for that year only. Anything marked (verify) is an approximate or recalled value that you must check in the latest Agricultural Statistics at a Glance, Odisha Agriculture Statistics or Economic Survey before using it in an exam answer.
What are agricultural statistics?
Agricultural statistics are quantitative data on land, crops, inputs, livestock, prices, farm incomes and resources, used by governments for planning (production targets, procurement, MSP, trade, insurance), by researchers and by farmers.
| Basic quantity | Definition | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Area | Land sown to a crop (area under crop) | Hectare (ha); thousand ha; million ha (Mha) |
| Production | Quantity harvested | Tonnes; lakh tonnes; million tonnes (mt); bales for cotton and jute |
| Yield (productivity) | kg/ha or t/ha | |
| Gross cropped area (GCA) | Total area sown, counting an area sown more than once each time | Mha |
| Net sown area (NSA) | Area sown once (counted once even if cropped twice or more in the year) | Mha |
| Cropping intensity | % |
A district has a rice area of 40,000 ha with a production of 112,000 t; its NSA is 60,000 ha and GCA is 87,000 ha.
- Yield (2,800 kg/ha).
- Cropping intensity .
- Area sown more than once ha.
Agricultural year and seasons
- The agricultural year runs from 1 July to 30 June (for crop reporting).
- Seasons: Kharif (sown with the monsoon, June–July, harvested Sept–Oct/Nov) — rice, maize, jowar, bajra, cotton, groundnut, soybean, pulses (arhar, moong, urad); Rabi (sown Oct–Dec, harvested Mar–Apr) — wheat, barley, gram, mustard, peas, rabi pulses; Zaid (summer, Mar–June) — watermelon, cucumber, summer moong, fodder, vegetables.
- In Odisha the main seasons are Kharif (mainly rice) and Rabi; summer (rabi/zaid) rice is called Dalua, and the main monsoon rice crop is the Sarad (winter) crop; rice is the dominant crop.
Nine-fold land-use classification
The land-use statistics compiled by the Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES) classify the reporting area as:
- Forests.
- Area under non-agricultural uses (buildings, roads, railways, water bodies).
- Barren and unculturable land (mountains, deserts).
- Permanent pastures and other grazing lands.
- Miscellaneous tree crops and groves (not included in the net sown area).
- Culturable waste land (fallow for more than five years).
- Fallow lands other than current fallows (uncultivated for 1–5 years).
- Current fallows (left uncropped during the current agricultural year only).
- Net sown area.
Items 3 + 2 = "land not available for cultivation"; items 4 + 5 + 6 = "other uncultivated land excluding fallow land"; items 7 + 8 = "fallow lands". Total of the nine = reporting area, which may differ from the geographical area (some areas are not surveyed).
Sources and agencies
| Agency | Role |
|---|---|
| Directorate of Economics and Statistics (DES), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare | Crop area, production and yield estimates (Advance and Final); land-use statistics; publishes Agricultural Statistics at a Glance |
| State Directorates of Economics and Statistics / Agriculture | Collect and compile state and district data (Odisha Agriculture Statistics; the Odisha Economic Survey) |
| Agricultural Census (every 5 years, since 1970–71; the most recent full reference — 2015–16; a later round is under way or published — verify) | Number and area of operational holdings by size, tenure, social group, with an Input Survey (irrigation, fertiliser, machinery) |
| National Statistical Office (NSO, MoSPI) | Situation Assessment Surveys, consumption and household surveys, national accounts, GVA of agriculture |
| Land Records and revenue departments (patwari/village accountant) | Village-level area enumeration (complete enumeration) |
| Livestock Census (every 5 years; the 20th was 2019) | Animal population, including draught animals and poultry |
| ICAR, state agricultural universities, ISRO (remote sensing — FASAL, CROPS) | Technical support, crop acreage and production forecasts |
| CWC, CGWB, Ministry of Jal Shakti | Water resources and groundwater assessments |
| CACP, Agmarknet, DGCI&S | Costs, prices, trade |
How crop statistics are estimated
- Area: complete enumeration of the area under each crop in the village by revenue (land-records) staff in most states, while a few states rely on sample surveys — the method differs from state to state, so check the arrangement of the state in question.
- Yield: Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) under the General Crop Estimation Surveys (GCES) — a random sample of villages, then fields; a plot of a standard size (commonly about 5 m × 5 m for cereals — the size depends on crop and state instructions) is harvested, the produce is weighed and dried, and the yield per hectare is computed; thousands of CCEs per major crop per year.
- Production = area × yield.
- Advance Estimates for the main season come in several stages (first, second, third and fourth advance estimates — for kharif and rabi), followed by the Final Estimates (the figures are revised as more data arrive).
Five crop-cutting plots of 5 m × 5 m (25 m² each) of paddy give dry grain yields of 7.4, 8.1, 6.8, 7.7 and 8.0 kg per plot.
- Mean yield per plot kg.
- Per hectare kg/ha .