(1) 2,865,920 acres in Sagaing Division were distributed among 446,317 holdings; 99.39% of
total holding area were household-based land holdings. The majority of these holdings 78.69%
were small farms under 10 acres in size and only 0.03% were large farms extending over 50 acres.
Among special land holdings, 84.61% were 50 acres and above in size.
(2) 89.50% of holders were males and only 10.50% were females. 95.25% of all holders had formal
schooling indicating thier capability to adopt improved techniques of production and to be
responsive to effective extension sevices. 81.68% of holders worked permanently on holdings. 41.70%
of land holders had other sources of income.
(3) 40.88% of household-based holdings employed paid workers, 39.52% employed occasional workers,
and only 6.63% employed permanent workers. A large portion of labour input was supplied by farm
families. Among paid workers, the number of occasional workers was as much as 6 times greater than
that of the permanent workers. Special holdings however employed a larger percentage of hired
labour, paid workers 58.97% permanent workers 64.10% and occasional workers 87.18%.
(4) A larger percentage of special land holdings used machinery and equipment than did household-based
land holdings. 33.33% of special land holdings used water pumps,28.21% used tractors, 15.38% used
generotors/motors, 7.69% used huller machines,15.38% used power tillers, and 23.08% used other
farm machinery. Among household-based land holdings,2.00% of holdings used machinery and equipment
other than huller machines, power tillers and tractors. 9.93% of household-based holdings used
huller machine. Large farms had the advantage to adopt modern farm machinery.
(5) A small percentage of special land holdings 69.23% used inorganic fertilizers, while a large
percentage 80.95% of household-based land holdings used organic fertilizers. Also, a larger
percentage of special land holdings 58.97% use pesticides and HYV seeds 56.41%. As in the case
of capital inputs, large farms benefitted from the use of new technical knowhow and modern methods
of cultivation.
(6) 31.12% of land holdings used irrigation. Rivers/Creeks and government canals were the
important sources of irrigation; they porvided irrigation to 58.40% of household-based land
holdings. However,for special holdings, rivers/creeks provided irrigation to 10.00% of the
special holdings. Own wells to about 20.00% of the special holdings.
(7) 70.48% of all holdings were paddy land, 52.26% were Ya land, 16.51% were Kaing (alluvial)
land, and a small percentage, Garden land, Taungya ( shifting cultivation ), Squatter and
Rubber land. Among special holdings, 48.72% of the holdings were paddy land; the acreage under
paddy being only 13.39% of total land area.
(8) 84.45% of household-based land holdings and 71.79% of special holdings grew cereals on
46.64% and 60.92% of total sown area respectively. The second most important crop sown was
pulses; it was followed by industiral crops. Among cereals,paddy was the main crop sown.
Food grain production dominated cereal production.
51.71% of household-based land holdings and 40.00% of special holdings grew fruits and nuts.
But in terms of total productive area, 23.07% of household-based land holdings grew industrial
permanent corps.
(9) 97.74% of household-based land holdings and 89.74% of special land holdings used draught
animals. Regarding cattle and buffaloes, 81.22% of household-based land holdings owned cattle
and only 13.64% owned buffaoles. The extensive use of animal power seemed to reflect that
further efforts were needed to modernize the existing mode of agricultural production.
(10) The average size of an agricutural holding was 6.77 acres. The average size of an agricultural household was 6. About one in every 3 houshehold-based land holdings had other sources of income. The average number of parcels per household-based land holding was 3, and the average size of a parcel was 2.48 acres. The average cultivation intensity was found to be 1.22. The proportion of land left fallow was about 5.11%.
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