Title : Royal Commission on Agriculture in India - Reserve Bank of ...

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(b) (iii) The large percentage of cereal crops culti\'ated presupposes a sufficiency
of dry foddel' throughout the Province, but a large quantity is sold
off, The cultivator, as a rule, feeds the cattle properly during the busy
season only, turning them out to graze in the recently han'ested fields and
waste lands for the remaining part of the year, l;'ith the result that the
animals are almost stan'ed out, The pPc,uniary liabilities of the farmer are
the main incentive to the sale of fodder.
(iv) In the dry season, December to July, green feed is not available and
its absence tells much on the yield of milch cattle.
(c) April to June is the period of fodder shortage in the Province.
Scarcity of fodder exists for twelve weeks throughout April, May and June.
Preliminary flooding takes place in July. After this, young growing cattle
begin to thrive on cultivated fodders and grasses which last till Octoberljovember
.
• (d) Better facilities for irrigation water will improve fodder supply.
(e) 1. For the benefit of village cattle Government should make hun
grants for the growth of babul trees and natural grasses to each village, to
be managed by the villagers themselves on the basis of co-operation. Each
hun may be about ten acres or more, depending upon the size of the village.
2. Breeding bulls from Government cattle stations should be issued gratis
in the first instance to important ,'illages.
3. Annual cattle exhibitions on a small scale may be held in each taluka,
prizes being awarded on the basis of actual performance and constitution.
QUESTION 17.-AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIEs.-(a) In places where both rabi
and khari/ cultivation is possible, the cultivator has work all the year round i
but where there is khan/ cultivation only he has only six months' work.
In the slack season he--
(1) takes a h'oliday to attend fairs, of which there is a good number in
Sind;
(2) attends religious or social functions in or out of his village;
(3) does carting and camel driving on wages;
(4) is engaged in canal clearance work;
(5) tends his livestock;
(6) works for daily w!lges on construction works, especially near tOWI1S.
(c) Extremes of climatic conditions do not favour bee-keeping and sericulture.
Poultry rearing is already done on a limited scale,. Fruit growing
will not be undertaken by the cultivator as he has no permanent interest in
the holding, nor are the conditions of water supply favourable. For lac
culture and rope making there is some scope and they are practised ,wherever
the necessary material is available. There is no scope for pis(,iculture as
there is already a large quantity of fish available naturally.
(e) Wherever there is raw produce, concerns such as ginning factories and
rice hulling mills have already established themselves near rural areas and
these absorb some of the spare labour. Similarly small flour mills may with
advantage be opened in wheat growing tracts.
(g) In view of the anticipated agricultural development of Sind due to
the Lloyd Barrage, rur,al population will have sufficient employment in agricultural
operations all the year round.
(h) Travelling health officers should be appointed whose duty it should be
to tour rural arei's periodically and lecture on the elements of hygiene.
QUESTION 18.-AGBlCULTUIlAL LADouR.-(a) (i) This Province being sparsely
populated, there is no need'to attract agricultural labour from one area to
another.
(ii) Large tracts of cultivable land remain uncultivated at present for
want of water. When the Barrage is in working order people from congested
areas outside Sind will have to be attracted by giving them grants of land,
•
Khan Bahadur Gulmahomed Abdur Rahman.