AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS IN THE TROPICS 221 



to people situated within its own range of operation : outside 

 loans are not allowed. A lower rate of interest than that of 

 the moneylender is charged on loans ; in India, for instance, 

 i2h per cent, is usual. From the profit thus obtained, the 

 society first pays back any loan it may have had for a start and 

 then pays dividends to its members. 



There can be no doubt that such societies, properly 

 managed, can do a very great deal to free the peasant from 

 the clutch of the moneylender — the first thing necessary for 

 agricultural progress. This alone is not enough to secure 

 progress at the greatest possible rate. The problem can be 

 attacked in other directions, by rendering it more easy for 

 the peasant to obtain the necessary seeds, manures, tools, etc. 

 and by providing markets in which he can easily dispose of 

 his produce. All these things may be done co-operatively, as in 

 fact they are done in many countries, e.g. France and Denmark. 

 A very good method of helping the peasant is the co-operative 

 seed supply store, which is in operation in several places in 

 Ceylon. The money for a start must, as in the case of the 

 credit society, be found in other ways. Having supplied itself 

 with seed of good kinds the store advances it to the peasantry 

 at a low rate of interest, paid in kind at harvest-time, in all 

 other respects acting like a credit society. A co-operative 

 society may also be started for the supply of manure ; it finds 

 out what each member wants, gets the whole in bulk from the 

 manufacturers and then .distributes it. In this way the cost to 

 individual purchasers is reduced. A society of this kind is 

 successfully at work at Baddegama in Ceylon, and elsewhere. 

 A curious difficulty has cropped up : the local dealers in 

 manures adulterate theirs so much that they can undersell 

 the better manures of the society ; but as the latter give better 

 results, the efifect of this action is not very marked. 



Provision of markets is another very important aspect of 

 this subject of capital, for if there be no market the peasant 

 cannot dispose of his produce. The more readily he can 

 sell, at a steady price, what he grows the more will his 

 cultivations be differentiated. Hence it is obvious that the 

 market should be a large one ; in a small market, such as is 

 provided by the village or district, the fluctuations in demand, 

 supply, and prices obtainable will be very much greater than 

 in a large market. So long, therefore, as the market is con- 



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