The growing need for land for industrial and residential purposes has resulted in lands under agriculture shrinking by 10 to 15 per cent per annum in Coimbatore, Erode and Tirupur districts.

Top officials in the Agriculture Department, pointing out to the statistics discussed by the State Planning Commission at its recent meetings, say that in these districts, the total extent of land under agriculture has come down by 1.50 lakh hectares over the last three years.