The number of registered farmers in Gujarat increased by 4.35 lakh during a five-year period between 2011 and 2016, the state government told the Assembly on Wednesday. The figures submitted by the state government during the Question Hour show that this increase is restricted to marginal, small and semi-medium farmers. In comparison to the Agri-Census conducted in 2010-11 by the Government of India, the number of marginal farmers increased by 2.03 lakh. Similarly the small and semi-medium farmers also rose by 1.86 lakh and 70,721 respectively, the government stated in a written reply to a question asked by Congress MLA Chandanji Thakor. In comparison, the number of large farmers reduced by 8,883, while he medium farmers also reduced by 16,782. In its reply, the government also stated that the agri-census do not give reasons for the increase or decrease in the number of farmers. The government said there were a total of 53.2 lakh farmers in the state of which more than 36 lakh farmers were small and marginal farmers.
