For a state that always takes pride in being called the “Rice Bowl of India”, this is surely disconcerting news. As per the 2011 census, there has been a significant fall in the number of cultivators in Andhra Pradesh during the last one decade. The percentage of cultivators has declined from 22.52 per cent in 2001 to 16.47 per cent in 2011. The total population of the state is 8.45 crore as per the latest census. The backward Adilabad district in the Telangana region accounts for the highest number of farmers at 27.48 per cent of the district population. A disturbing dimension to this trend has been the increase in the number of agricultural labourers in the state. Director of Census Operations, AP, YV Anuradha said the number of agricultural labourers had increased to 43 per cent in 2011 as against 39.63 per cent in 2001. Their number is highest in Kondur of Krishna district while Nampally Mandal in the state capital has the lowest. The number of main workers (who worked for six months or more during the reference year) was over 3.30 crore and about 2.41 crore of them were in the rural areas. At district level, the percentage of agricultural labourers to the total population was found to be highest in West Godavari (59.88) and lowest in Hyderabad (1.62 percent) while at the Mandal level, their number was highest in Kondur (79.88 per cent) of Krishna district and Nampally mandal (1.03) in the state capital has the lowest, a report of the Primary Census Abstract (PCA) said. The female work participation rate among the main workers in the state was 35.04 per cent as against 33.01 in 2001 census. The marginal workers (who worked for less than six months) have been divided into two categories for the first time in census 2011 --- those who worked for less than three months and those who worked for a period between three and six months. The marginal workers in AP were recorded at over 63.85 lakh with an increase of about 5.32 lakh over the 2001 figures, the report added. Though AP has shown a good overall improvement in the sex ratio with 993 women per 1000 men in the 2011 census as against 978 women in 2001, the child sex ratio has come down to 939 from 961 a decade ago, indicating the continuing preference for boys in the society. Despite the decline, the child sex ratio in the state is still better than the national average of 919. In rural areas, it is 941 against the national average of 923, and in urban areas it is 935 against national ratio of 905. Census 2011 The percentage of cultivators has declined from 22.52 per cent in 2001 to 16.47 per cent in 2011 The backward Adilabad district in the Telangana region accounts for the highest number of farmers at 27.48 per cent of the district population A disturbing dimension to this trend has been the increase in the number of agricultural labourers in the state. The number had increased to 43 per cent in 2011 as against 39.63 per cent in 2001