Farmers are the backbone of our country, and today they are in crisis. Despite the decades of policy interventions, farmers have not seen their income rise, nor have they increased their farm productivity. Farmers are unable to exit agriculture or find alternative occupations for better income in these times, largely due to the restrictions on land transfer. 

The major capital asset of farmers, i.e., land, has been heavily regulated in India. A combination of laws enacted at the state level restricts the sale, lease, and conversion of farmland. Such restrictions trap the landowner and subsequently lead to the depression of the land price. Even those farmers who intend to exit this profession face numerous difficulties in liquidating their land assets and diversifying their income. 

This URGENT petition asks to remove the restrictions on the sale, lease, and conversion of agricultural land by farmers in the state of Maharashtra because of the following reasons: -

Presently, there are several restrictions in the state of Maharashtra on the way farmers can exercise property rights over their land: 

• Under the Maharashtra Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Act, 1948, only an agriculturist can purchase agricultural land in the state of Maharashtra.
• Similarly, under the Maharashtra Agricultural Land (Ceiling on Holdings) Act, 1961, there is a specified land ceiling on different categories of land.
• Under the Maharashtra state laws, the tenancy of agricultural land is also prohibited.
• Permission from the District Collector is required for revenue clearance and technical clearance to convert agricultural land for non-agricultural use.

Such land restrictions have also led to the fragmentation of agricultural landholdings and prevented their reconsolidation. As a result, the average size of a holding in Maharashtra was 1.34 hectares as of 2019, yielding a low income and making agriculture unsustainable for small farmers.

Sign this petition so that we can raise this issue to the relevant stakeholder in the government! Removing these restrictions on selling, leasing, and converting will give small farmers the choice to leave farming and look for sources of higher income.

“Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals and happiness.”

                                                                              -Thomas Jefferson