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OUTTURN OF THE CROPS

Owing to favourable rains in Gujarat the kharif and rabi crops yielded between 67 to 95 and 67 to 90 per cent. respectively. In the Deccan and Karnatak kharif as well as rabi crops suffered in the eastern tracts owing to want of sufficient rain. Khandesh and Satara had a yield of from 67 to 92; while in other parts of the Deccan the outturn varied from 50 to 68 of the normal. In the Karnatak kharif crops yielded from 50 to 75 per cent. and rabi crops between 50 to 67 except in Bijapur where the outturn ranged from one-third to one-half of the normal. In the Konkan all the districts reported a full normal outturn except Kanara which had between 58 and 92

per cent.

In Sind kharif as well as rabi crops yielded between 58 to 83 per cent. The outturn under cotton varied from 82 to 96 in Gujarat and Khandesh, to 50 to 83 in practically all other parts of the Presidency, including Sind.

The approximate outturn of food crops in the Presidency proper was 4 million tons and in Sind over 12 million

tons.

CONDITION OF THE AGRICULTURAL POPULATION

The season of 1922-23 was one in which almost the reverse took place from what has been going on during the last six or seven years. Crops were generally abundant except in the East Deccan and Karnatak, but prices, except for cotton, consistently fell, especially in the case of food grains. Wages, however, did not fall appreciably. The result was (except in the cotton tracts) that while for the classes labouring for cash wages it was a very good year, for almost all other portions. of the agricultural population, it was distinctly inferior to recent years and in some cases the difference was

indeed.

very marked

The self dependent small farmer with an economic holding, chiefly employed in producing food for himself and his family, did not suffer much though the fall in prices caused more difficulty in paying the high labour charges and the Government assessment. But the larger man, chiefly cultivating by employed

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labour, was very badly affec ed almost everywhere except in the cotton tracts.

The general result seems to be a rise in the prosperity of the labouring class in the rural areas. The small farmer, who cultivates his own land, produces crops essentially for maintenance and employs the minimum of labour, is hardly holding his own. The farmer producing market crops (except cotton) and employing labour largely in his work has suffered badly, and this fact may lead to very marked economic changes in the near future, the exact nature of which it is difficult at present to forecast.

AID TO CULTIVATORS

Work of Department of Agriculture.-The Agricultural Department came into existence in 1883, but the Director's time was taken up largely in the organisation and supervision of the Land Records staff which was created to supply the improved statistics recommended by the Famine Commission of 1881.

The separation in 1905 of the Departments of Land Records and Registration from the Agricultural Department enabled the Director to devote his energies to the organisation of the latter Department and to the realisation of the following recommendations of the Government of India on the report of the Famine Commission :

(1) That systematic prosecution of agricultural inquiry must precede any attempt at agricultural improvement.

(2) That the Agricultural Department in the section of its duties appertaining to agricultural inquiry must be brought into close contact with the Land Revenue Department proper.

The Presidency has been divided into five divisions, each being placed under a Deputy Director, generally an officer of the Imperial Agricultural Service, who has under him a Divisional Superintendent. These officers tour throughout their charges, examine the working of the several agricultural farms and stations, and bring to the notice of the cultivators the results of their experiments in the various branches of the department.

[graphic]

Potatoes. Effect of spraying against Tambera Disease. Left-unsprayed

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They also supervise the experimental work done at the farms and stations and initiate original experimental work on the farms at their respective headquarter stations. The farms and stations which are the main centres for the spread of the activities of the Department are mostly managed by undergraduate Superintendents, trained at the Agricultural College at Poona, with the assistance of a number of non-graduate fieldmen, who have also generally received a short training at the College. The work done at these stations consists generally in the selection of varieties of crops suitable for different localities, selection of seeds, hybridization of different varieties so as to obtain a strain of a superior quality, and experiments with different kinds of manures and demonstration of improved agricultural implements of all kinds.

Another direction in which the cultivator has been benefited is the introduction of foreign high class seeds for commercial crops like wheat, groundnuts, potatoes, etc., and their popularity is proved by the continuously increasing demand from agriculturists.

Besides its work in connection with pure agriculture the Department attends to such allied branches as agricultural engineering, animal breeding, horticulture and soil physics, and these different branches of work are controlled by separate officers. The work of the Agricultural Engineer in well boring is appreciated and the services of the boring staff are greatly in demand by the public. The Agricultural Engineer's advice is being freely sought in the matter of selection of machinery, such as pumping plants, iron ploughs and other agricultural implements, selection of sites for the setting of pumps, etc.

The Deputy Director of Animal Breeding is in charge of the cattle breeding branch of the Department and is responsible for the distribution of premium bulls and matters connected with the breeding and rearing of cattle and the provision of pure milk.

For imparting scientific instruction in agriculture a fully equipped College has been established in Poona with a Principal and Professors of Agriculture, Botany and Animal Husbandry, assisted by a large staff of Assistant Professors. Instruction in

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