Agriculture Census forms part of a broader system of collection of Agricultural Statistics. It is a large-scale statistical operation for the collection and derivation of quantitative information about the structure of agriculture in the country. An agricultural operational holding is the ultimate unit for taking decision for development of Agriculture at micro level. It is for this reason that an operational holding is taken as the statistical unit of data collection for describing the structure of agriculture. Through Agriculture Census it is endeavored to collect basic data on important aspects of agricultural economy for all the operational holdings in the country. Aggregation of data is done at various levels of administrative units.
Periodic Agriculture Censuses are important as these are the main source of information on basic characteristics of operational holdings such as land use and cropping patterns, irrigation status, tenancy particulars and the terms of leasing. This information is tabulated by different size classes and social groups including Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribes which are needed for development planning, socio-economic policy formulation and establishment of national priorities. The census also provides the basis for the development of a comprehensive integrated national system of agricultural statistics and has links with various components of the national statistical system. The whole project of Agriculture Census in the country is implemented in three distinct phases, which are statistically linked together but focus on different aspects of agricultural statistics. In Phase-I, a list of holdings with their area and social characteristics and gender of the holders is prepared. In Phase-II, detailed data on agricultural characteristics of holdings are collected from selected villages. Thus the whole operation of Agriculture Census in India is not really a complete Census. In fact, it is a combination of Census and Sample Survey.