Farming sector in India is now facing a situation where on one side, there are some people ‘who have land, but are not interested/unable to cultivate it’, and on the other side ‘those who have interest lack enough land to cultivate’. Lease land farming is an institutional arrangement to address this state of uneven supply of land. But there are several conditions debilitating its wide reach. This paper explores the opportunities and constraints pertaining to lease land farming and identifies the factors that influence the decision of leasing out. By employing Garret Ranking Method, the perceptions of lessees and lessors were obtained and it revealed that difficulty in availing quality land followed by high rent rate and other social issues were the major challenges faced by lessees while land degradation and environmental concerns were cited as the major problems faced by the lessors. On employing logistic regression to discern the factors that influence the decision of leasing out, size of holdings is found to have a significant influence. As the holding size of a land owner increases, it is more likely for him to lease out. Though there are some negative impacts of lease land farming, its positive influence offset those dismissive notions stating it as a definite solution to carve the sustainable development paradigm of India, by bringing it under a legal framework.
