RICE — CRIST 513 



War II days (B04.3 million hectares in 1937 against 388 millions in 

 1956), but the population has increased by more than 27 percent. In 

 spite of this tremendous increase, India still imports between 3 and 

 4 million tons of food grain — largely rice — a year. With popula- 

 tion increasing by 2 percent a year, there are an additional 8,000,000 

 mouths to feed. A Ford Foundation study concludes that at the pres- 

 ent rate of population increase, India will be short 28 million tons of 

 food grain a year for her population by 1966. Considerable imports 

 of rice continue to be made, but they have decreased somewhat as a 

 result of massive importation of substitute cereals, particularly of 

 wheat, especially from the United States. One wonders if this grain 

 deficit will continue to be made up — on a gift, barter, or low-price 

 basis — by New World grains. 



INDONESIA 



Densely populated countries such as Indonesia, where rice alone 

 supplies more than 40 percent of the calories in the diet, are aware that 

 too great a dependence on rice imports might lead to instability in the 

 economy. The country has been able to maintain a favorable balance 

 of trade only by a severe cutback in imports plus trading arrangements 

 and barter agreements with the United States and various other coun- 

 tries. Even so it has been importing about 700,000 tons of rice a year — 

 roughly 8 percent of its consumption. At present rates of population 

 growth it will need to import 100,000 tons more each year unless it can 

 achieve an almost immediate production increase. To meet this chal- 

 lenge, Indonesia is launching a 3-year program aimed at making it- 

 self self-sufficient in rice by the end of 1962. The emphasis is to be in 

 the intensified use of present lands rather than in long-term mecha- 

 nized development of new lands. Insufficient capital, lack of trained 

 teclmicians, and inadequate use of improved production practices have 

 been brakes on the program to increase production. 



BURMA 



Burma ranks sixth among rice-producing nations of the world, but 

 is No. 1 exporter of that grain (almost a third of the exports of the 

 world). The effects of World War II are still felt, for Burma pro- 

 duced almost 7,000,000 tons of irrigated rice before the war, but aver- 

 aged slightly less than 6,000,000 tons from 1953 to 1957. The popula- 

 tion of the country increased from 15.6 million in 1937 to 19.9 million 

 in 1956, or an increase of 27 percent. Since production has not reached 

 prewar level, exports have greatly decreased — from 3,000,000 tons be- 

 fore the war to an average of 1,537,000 tons from 1953 to 1957. Most 

 of this rice passes through Rangoon, greatest rice exporting center in 

 the world, to India and Ceylon, Japan, and Indonesia. It remains 



