CHAPTER III 



X 



THE FINANCING OF VILLAGE AGRICULTURE, AND 

 THE PROVISION OF LOCAL MARKETS 



WE now come to the next point, that of finance, upon which 

 all the rest really depends. Agricultural enterprises, other 

 than the very smallest villagers' gardens, require some capital, 

 however small, to carry out clearing of land, waiting for harvest, 

 etc., and such cultivations as are chiefly taken up by European 

 planters, such as tea, rubber, sugar, or coconuts, often require 

 very large amounts. The smaller the scale upon which the 

 agriculturist works, the more does he live from hand to mouth, 

 and the more likely is he to need a loan to carry him over the 

 unproductive period, or to help him in a season of bad crops. 

 The lower the stage in this scale, too, the higher the rate of 

 interest, the security being so much the poorer. The general 

 result therefore is that in most tropical countries, the villager 

 is largely in the hands of the local money-lender, who charges a 

 rate of interest that is rarely below 50 / Q . 



This being the state of his financial affairs, it is of course 

 idle to expect the villager to adopt agricultural improvements 

 which cost anything, to try new products, or in fact to take any 

 risks, even though he may know in a general way that the 

 expenditure of a penny may bring in a shilling. 



Probably the most generally feasible scheme that has yet 

 been put forward for freeing the villager from the money- 

 lender's exactions is the institution of Cooperative Credit 

 Societies, now so common in Europe and North America, and 

 first instituted by Raiffeisen in Wurtemberg. Such societies 

 are now in extensive operation in India, where they have ex- 

 panded in a wonderful manner, and in Ceylon. 



