Key findings

Since the last census in 2008, the number of agricultural holdings grew by 41% — from 10,234 to 14,409.

But the land they manage shrank by about 22% — from 63,989 to 49,898 hectares.

The average holding fell from 6.3 to 3.5 hectares. More farms on less land: fragmentation, not intensification.

And nearly all of this is family farming: 98.1% of holdings are run by individual persons, not companies.

First, the land itself: 43% of all farmland lies in one district — Nickerie — while the vast interior holds only a sliver.

Nickerie holds 10% of holdings, but 43% of the land — almost all of it irrigated rice.

Sipaliwini is the mirror image: 30% of holdings, less than 7% of the farmland — nearly one farm in three, but little of the land.

Together with Brokopondo, the interior marks that divide: many holdings, little land. The coast is commercial and mechanized. One country, two agricultures — a pattern that runs through every finding that follows.

Land tells the opposite story: the 2% of individual holdings above 20 hectares control over 55% of individually managed land.

Corporate holdings average 99.5 hectares of utilized agricultural area — 45 times the 2.2 ha of family farms.

Purpose splits the sector too: 24% of holdings produce only for their own table, 32% primarily for sale — the rest mix both.

Subsistence farming has a clear home: Sipaliwini alone holds 40% of all pure-subsistence holdings, while Nickerie and Marowijne lead in commercial orientation.

In Paramaribo the average farmer is 56.5 years old; interior districts skew far younger. Succession risk sits exactly where commercial output is produced.

Education follows the same coastal line: 99% of university-educated farmers work in coastal districts; primary school is the most common attainment overall.

Women's role is growing: female headship rose from 35% in 2008 to nearly 40% in 2025.

The rise has a clear geography: in Brokopondo, 77% of holdings are headed by women — with the interior districts topping the list.

But scale changes everything: women run nearly half of the smallest plots and only 2% of holdings over 20 hectares. Near-parity at micro scale, near-exclusion at commercial scale.

Suriname's farming geography follows its cultural geography: Maroon and Indigenous holders dominate the interior; Hindustani and Javanese holders dominate the coastal commercial districts.

The annual crops: rice leads with 3,065 holdings, with bitter and sweet cassava just behind — cassava anchors interior food security.

Rice is also where the hectares are: Nickerie alone plants 16,792 hectares — averaging over 15 ha per farm, against under 0.7 ha in the interior.

Among (semi-)permanent crops, plantains dominate with 3,159 holdings — three times any other species — ahead of coconut and mango.

A tradition that deserves more attention: 42% of holdings manage at least one plot under shifting cultivation. Traditional rotational farming remains a structurally important part of food production, particularly in Sipaliwini, Brokopondo, and Marowijne.

Beneath it all, tenure: more than 57% of parcels are held under secure long-term arrangements (rented from the government, plus privately owned land) — the foundation for long-term investment.

Commercial production is another world: 81% of all broilers sit in just two districts — Wanica and Saramacca. Cattle shows the same pattern: Wanica and Commewijne together keep 63% of the national herd.

The most extreme case: 6 holdings in Saramacca keep 76% of all pigs in Suriname. Concentration on this scale is efficient — and a systemic risk for national food supply.