Agricultural Land Markets in India: A Case of Maharashtra

Abstract

By examining the changing land sale market in six villages of Maharashtra, in the context of legal restrictions on the purchase of agricultural land by non-agriculturists, the chapter reports a sudden rise in land prices during the late reforms period, i.e. 2001 to 2017. This rise in land prices is unrelated to the net return from the land and is instead caused by demands from non-cultivating households and speculative trading. The purchased land by the non-cultivators is mostly left fallow or is leased-out. Such changes tend to exclude the small cultivators and will have an adverse impact on the equity and inclusiveness in agriculture. The legal restriction on the purchase of agricultural land by the non-agricultural households seems to have limited effect.