AGRICULTURE — GENERAL 315 



search farm with laboratories at Medani, where there are some 

 thirteen scientists, and the Shambat central research farm. Nearly 

 all work is concentrated on cotton and the crops which are grown 

 in rotation with it. Other stations in the territory are maintained 

 by the department of agriculture and forests, and in particular 

 arrangements are going forward for developing parts of the 

 Southern Sudan, where it appears that crops can be grown with- 

 out irrigation. 



In all territories under the auspices of the Colonial Office^ agricultural 

 policy is formulated in the territories themselves, but approval is 

 sought from the Secretary of State in the case of any major change 

 involved. As an advisory body in England to the Secretary of 

 State there is the Colonial Advisory Council of Agriculture and Animal 

 Health, which consists of scientific experts under the chairmanship 

 of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, with Sir F. A. 

 Stockdale, Agricultural Adviser to the Secretary of State, as vice- 

 chairman. 



The organization of Government departments varies in dif- 

 ferent territories. In Kenya the Department of Agriculture has a 

 central directorate at Nairobi, with separate divisions for plant 

 industry and animal industry. In most of the territories, how- 

 ever, there are distinct veterinary departments, or departments 

 of animal health, which have been developed in Africa, owing to 

 the special problems created by stock disease. In some cases, as in 

 Tanganyika and the Gold Coast, the veterinary departments are 

 concerned with questions of animal husbandry, including breed- 

 ing and feeding, in addition to those of disease. More commonly, 

 however, the departments of agriculture have taken over much of 

 the work in animal husbandry, though maintaining liaison with 

 the veterinarians; this is the case especially in Nigeria, where 

 mixed farming is being developed and the agricultural depart- 

 ment has its own stock farm and staff of experts in animal hus- 

 bandry, and in Uganda. Territories which have no separate 

 department for veterinary work are Sierra Leone, where animal 

 husbandry is relatively unimportant, the Gambia and Somaliland, 

 each of which has a small combined department. The High Com- 

 mission territories of Basutoland and Bechuanaland likewise have 

 small agricultural departments which deal with both aspects. 



