Allocating House and Garden

Plots to Benefit the Rural

Landless

Jennifer Brown
Rural Development Institute
Key Messages
 Land access must be important component of
rural devt and poverty alleviation strategies.
 House plots can and do provide important
non-housing benefits.
 Size of plot matters.
 Allocating “large” house-and-garden plots is a
feasible land reform alternative.
Background
 Rural landlessness is best predictor of
poverty in India.
 Int’l experience: house-and-garden
plots often provide significant nutrition,
income, and other non-housing benefits
 Research Question: What role do such
plots play in India?
Research
 Objectives:
1. How are poor landless households using house
plots?
2. What nutritional, income and other benefits are
households obtaining from the house plot?
3. Relationship between size and benefits from
plot?

 Research Locations:
 Karnataka
 Uttar Pradesh
 West Bengal
 Beneficial Impacts of House
Plots for Rural Poor
 House plots of 1800-6500 sq ft for
agricultural laborer families had resulted in:
 Increase in status (89%)
 Increase in income (68%)
 Increase in credit access (58%)
 Increase in bargaining power and wages for
those who had lived on landlord’s land
 Substantially increased asset portfolio
Study of Well-Developed
Plots: Nutrition
 Well-developed house-and-garden plots
averaging 2400 sq ft produced enough for
agric laborer families to consume:

 Morethan the recommended daily amount of

vegetables

 More than the average rural intake of milk and

fruits.
Study of Well-Developed
Plots: Income
 Agric laborer families were able to
produce annualized income of Rs 6,600
income from surplus on 2400 sq ft
house-and-garden plots.

 Equivalent to wages from 150 days of

agric labor.
 Other Findings
 Benefits accrue especially to women (and
thus children).
 Poor families find a way to self-construct
house if they have secure legal rights to a
plot.
 Many govt-granted plots in recent years were
1200 sq ft or less.
 Govt extension and other support for home
gardens non-existent.
Summary of Findings
 Most households accruing significant non-housing
social, nutritional and economic benefits from
adequately sized rural house plots.

 Benefits increase significantly with small increases in

plot area; most benefits can be achieved at
approximately 3000-4500 sq ft.

 Well-developed house-and-garden plots provide

substantial benefits: scope for improved extension.
Tenth 5-year Plan
 “Access to even small pieces of land which may not
be sufficient for providing income to a family for
subsistence can significantly reduce poverty and food
insecurity by providing an essential component in a
diversified livelihood system.” 3.2.57
 “Ownership of even a small plot of land enables a
family to raise its income, improve its nutritional
status, have access to credit facilities and lead a
more dignified life.… Horticulture, floriculture and
vegetable cultivation on small plots of land, including
homestead land, have proved beneficial for the poor.
Agricultural labourers, therefore, need to be provided
access to land to improve their economic and social
well-being” 3.2.71
Policy Recommendations
1. Allocate house-and-garden plots of
approximately 3000-4500 sq ft (7-10 cents)
to the rural landless households.

2. Use available govt land or purchase land.

3. Use portion of resources from existing rural

housing schemes for land acquisition or
purchase.
Policy Recommendations
4. Provide rights to house-and-garden plots in
joint names of husband and wife.

5. Provide extension advice and assistance to

house-and-garden plot recipients (and
existing holders).
Related Specifics
1. Each acre of land can provide about 10 adequately
sized house-and-garden plots together with paths
and common areas.
2. Land can be acquired from existing government
lands or by govt purchase of private lands.
3. Land should be cultivatable and not too far from
existing habitation.
4. Purchasing dryland at Rs 35,000 per acre means land
cost per household is Rs 3,500.
Related Specifics
5. For new layout or colony, adding adding dirt road,
electrical line and common well for household
water may increase cost to Rs 5000-7500 per
family.
6. Compare Rs 20,000-25,000/household spent on
existing housing schemes (Indira Awaas Yojana
alone is Rs 1,500 crore/year).
7. Can, but need not, provide housing.
8. Providing such land for all landless households in
India would require less than 0. 4% of India’s
arable land.
Key Messages
 Poverty alleviation strategies must
include land policy.
 House plots can and do provide
important non-housing benefits.
 Size of plot matters.
 Allocating “large” house-and-garden
plots is a feasible land reform
alternative.