While according to the Census of India, the number of farmers in Odisha is declining, it is rising as per the State Agriculture Survey.
According to the Census in 2001, there were 42, 47,661 farmers in Odiaha, while as per 2011 Census, the number of farmers came down to 41, 03,989. In 2001, there were 49, 99,104 farm labourers and in 2011, they increased to 67, 39, 993.
On the contrary, according to the Agriculture Survey of Odisha in 2000-01, there were 40, 67,135 farmers families in Odisha which rose to 46, 67, 466 in 2010-11.
However, in 2000-01, there were 1, 42,197 sharecroppers in Odisha and 6, 42,741 semi-sharecroppers. In 2010-11, there numbers were 2, 19, 329 and 3, 28, 946, respectively. This indicates in the 10 years, the sharecroppers’ number came down from 7, 85, 000 to 5, 48, 000. According to the 2011 Census, while there are 96 lakh farmers’ families in Odisha, of them 47 lakh are farmers and over 5 lakh are sharecroppers.