Edible Products. 



128 



[August, 1908. 



THE VILLAGE CULTIVATOR AND 

 PADDY CULTIVATION. 



SOME SUGGESTIONS 

 By Mudaliyar A. Dissanaikb. 



(Paper read at the Meeting of the 

 Board of Agriculture on the 3rd August, 

 1908.) 



A great obstacle in the way of the 

 paddy cultivator in Ceylon is the pre- 

 carious nature of the rainfall and its 

 great variation in the different parts of 

 the Island. In some places, such as the 

 Tangalle and Jaffna districts, there are 

 long seasons of drought without a drop 

 of rain. Even in places where the 

 rainfall is more regular there are some- 

 times months without water to enrich 

 the soil. The lack of water, therefore, is 

 the great drawback to the regular carry- 

 ing on of paddy cultivation. In some vil- 

 lages or districts this could be remedied 

 without depending much on rainwater 

 by constructing anicuts or bunds across 

 rivers and streams Avhere possible. In 

 most of the tracts water could be stored 

 in tanks or reservoirs, put up at the 

 upper ends of a range of tracts, to 

 collect water coming down from higher 

 elevations, and store it till the next rainy 

 season. A tank of this kind covering 

 an area of ten acres or so could 

 in this way supply water to a number 

 of tracts lying below its level. For 

 this purpose lands will have to be 

 acquired under the Ordinance and bunds 

 put up by labour supplied by the 

 field-owners or cultivators. It appears 

 that during the rule of Sinhalese kings in 

 most of the villages there existed a great 

 many minor reserviors or tanks which 

 proved highly beneficial to paddy culti- 

 vation. The names of places indicate 

 the existence of such tanks. Abnormal 

 droughts on the one hand, and serious 

 floods on the other cause great devasta- 

 tion. Such being the case it should 

 be the care of the people, with the 

 help of Government, to devise the 

 best means for remedying the evils 

 arising from these causes. It is unfair to 

 talk of laxity on the part of the culti- 

 vators when they are often placed 

 in such unfavourable circumstances 

 and are powerless to do anything with- 

 out outside aid. If paddy land- 

 owners are willing to give over a tithe 

 of their crops which they once paid 

 as royalty, and which the Government 

 gave up as an unfair tax on food, this 

 may be made use of to form a fund which 

 will accumulate to their credit, and by 

 means of which a great many neces- 

 sary improvements can be effected. 



Another important matter for con- 

 sideration is the difficult position in 

 which cultivators are generally placed 

 owing to want of ready money, espe2ially 

 when they are in need of seed paddy, 

 bone dust manure, ploughing cattle, &c 

 It is no wonder that these discourage- 

 ments have often induced many of the 

 goiyas to give up paddy cultivation and 

 to go in search of other employment 

 which is less irksome and more lucra- 

 tive. In this way large numbers of 

 villagers have left their homes and 

 removed to towns. All this has told 

 heavily against the progress of the 

 rice industry. If there were a fund 

 created for the people, through the 

 encouragement of the Government, and 

 administered by accredited Committees 

 in the different districts of the Island, 

 much of the obstacles referred to 

 above could be averted, as it would 

 afford an opportunity for organizing 

 Agricultural Banks for the benefit of 

 cultivators, enabling them to get small 

 loans on easy terms in times of need. 



It would be easy to raise such a fund 

 for the people from the payments of the 

 tithe. If the Government considers it 

 expedient, half the fund may be 

 reserved for remunerating the head- 

 men who will 3 s such be employed in 

 supervising paddy cultivations in the 

 different districts, and this will to a 

 certain extent solve the present vexed 

 question of remunerating the minor 

 headmen. These officers can be made 

 to co-operate with the Branch Agri- 

 cultural Societies. The collecting of the 

 tithe, the arrangement to give out loans 

 to parties who need help, and the 

 recovery of such loans might be regulated 

 by special rules enacted under the 

 Village Communities Ordinance. When 

 a cultivator is in want of a loan for any 

 agricultural work he can make his 

 application to the President of the Village 

 Tribunal who, after taking the evidence 

 of the headman of the division and two 

 or more witnesses, may forward his 

 statements to the proper authorities 

 with his recommendation. When the 

 amounts due are not paid promptly, 

 the Village Tribunal can again be 

 utilized for their recovery. A system 

 such as I have endeavoured to indicate 

 in outline would, I feel persuaded, effect a 

 revolution in the present state of agri- 

 culture in Ceylon. 



PACKING CACAO SEEDS. 



A method of packing cacao seeds for 

 export, which had given good results in 

 Samoa, was described in the Agricultural 

 Neivs of October 20, 1906 (Vol. V. p. 331), 



