94 CEREALS 



0*496 for Bengal and 0*250 for Madras. Accordingly, a 

 large surplus is available for export. 



Paddy (the name usually applied in India and Burma 

 to the unhusked grain of the rice plant) destined for 

 export finds its way to one or other of the principal sea- 

 ports of Rangoon, Bassein, Moulmein, and Akyab, where 

 the principal rice mills of the province, which are mainly 

 in the hands of European firms, are found. There the 

 rice is partially husked and exported as " cargo " rice. 



The increase in the acreage and in the amount exported 

 has been continuous up to the present year (1914), when 

 the record total of 2,944,000 tons of cargo rice left the 

 province. Of this 1,292,000 tons were shipped to Europe, 

 895,000 tons to India, and 705,000 tons to the Straits. 

 The remainder went to Japan, Ceylon, Mauritius, 

 Zanzibar, and Reunion. A fact which must be borne in 

 mind, however, is that the rice acreage of Burma, in the 

 main tracts at least, has now practically reached its 

 natural limit, and that future extension can only be the 

 result of irrigation and of more intensive cultivation. 



On the other hand, it is to be borne in mind that over 

 all of the great rice-producing area of Lower Burma and 

 the Irrawaddy delta the crop is not at present competing, 

 nor is it likely in the near future to compete, with any 

 other crop. The most probable development of agricul- 

 ture in these parts is second cropping by means of well 

 or other irrigation, and the adoption of such a system, 

 owing to the improvement which dry working and 

 leguminous crops, such as beans, would produce on the 

 paddy soils, would tend to increase rather than diminish 

 the total yield. We have the further fact that at present 

 Burma has few great non-agricultural industries, so that 

 a very large internal demand from a rapidly increasing 

 urban population is not likely to arise in the near future. 

 In certain tracts of Upper Burma, notably in the Mon- 

 Canal area of theyMinbu District, paddy is likely very 

 soon to meet with a competitor in sugar-cane, but over 

 the main rice areas of the province neither sugar-cane 

 nor jute is likely to oust the crop from its present 

 position of importance. Hence we may conclude that 

 Burma's rice trade, if it does not show a marked increase, 



