72 CEREALS 



supplementary foods. It is therefore quite probable 

 that one might arrive at some approximate estimate of 

 India's ability to export foodstuffs in general at a given 

 time. But that by itself would not enable us to say 

 which grain would be most readily exported, and this 

 is precisely the point on which a shipper of Rangoon 

 rice or of Karachi wheat requires enlightenment. 



We know what is the average fuel value or energy 

 contained in a stated quantity of Indian food-grain, and 

 we know what is the average cost of that quantity. It 

 is therefore permissible to speak of the said sum of 

 money as being the price of so much energy. And when 

 we ascertain this in respect of that quantity of energy 

 which is required to carry the average Indian through 

 a day's or a year's work, we have, in fact, ascertained 

 something that might be called a unit of value. And 

 this has great importance in the economic study of any 

 country. All value in the economic sense ultimately 

 reposes on such energy, retrospective or prospective, as 

 is represented by a commodity. If energy costs little in 

 a country, that country is in a position to produce 

 cheaply. If, on the contrary, the unit of value be high, 

 the cost of living will be high; and, as a producer, the 

 country will be at a disadvantage. On these lines we 

 find that the cost of the average Indian's aliment alone, 

 when derived from grain, is about Rs. n (145. 8d.) for 

 one year, and less than six pies or one halfpenny per 

 -diem. 



In all countries the cultivator wants ready money after 

 harvest time. He tends to sell at once, and is deterred 

 only by the fear that he may depress the market. 

 Prospect of a gain in price may induce him to postpone 

 sale, but in proportion as storage is costly or inefficient 

 prompt sale is stimulated. In India the cultivator knows 

 well enough that by throwing much of his produce on 

 the market at harvest time he depresses prices, often 

 below cost; but, on the other hand, he knows that, with 

 such storage accommodation as is at his disposal, any 

 attempt to hold a large proportion of a good crop would 

 entail on him a loss heavier than is involved in his cheap 

 sales. The storage is primitive. Rice is largely stored 



