INDIAN FAMINES - Institute for Social and Economic Change

240 APPENDIX.
NOTE REGARDING THE RAINFALL REQUISITE FOR
THE CCLTIVATION OF RICE.
The amount of rainfall necessary for the cultivation
of rice without external aid, such as inundation or artificial
irrigation, is not such a well-ascertained fact as
I was inclined to believe it to be previous to my making
special inquiries on the subject.
An authority on the matter infonns me that the
Madras estimate of the requisite quantity of wa.ter
required is 1 cubic yard per hour per acre during the
period that the crop is on the ground-viz., about five
months. This is equivalent to nearly 61 inches CODtinuous
rainfall per month; but, as a matter of fact,
" the rain of course does not fall at all regularly-and
probably nearly double that quantity, or 50 inches for
the fh-e months the crop is on the ground, would be
necessary to do what is requisite; and even this would
not suffice unless regularly distributed."
My authority continues: "On the whole, I should
say that a fall of 60 inches will not secure rice without
artificial irrigation, or without inundation, which comes
to much the same thing. • . . The Orissa rainfall
is about 60 inches, and the rice is always more or
less dependent on artificial irrigation, though with such
a rainfall it may probably be often got without expensive
works."
P&lY'TEJ) BY W~LUAM BUCKWOOD AND so~s, £.DIS'BeRGH.