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EXPANDED PR00RAM OF TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE Report to the Government of BRITISH GUIANA PLANNING AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT FOOD ANO A&RICUL TURE ORaANIZA TION OF T.HE UNITED NATIONS ROME.

1N8 Report No.
1706 REPORT TO TEE GOVERNMENT OF BRITISH GUIANA ON PLANNING AGRICULTURAL D VELOPMENT by Rene Dumont FAO Agricultural Development Economist F0od and .AgriculturG Orgn.nization of tho United Nations Rome, Juno 1963 4385 ..
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(ii __ , ...... ___ .. - - - - Table of Contents P _g__e_ FOmJ /ORD INTRODUCTION AN -lGRICULTURAL :J:COHOMY INADJli.
lJATTil FOR THE ACdII:V'];.IENT lJF ECONOMIC INDEP D:zNC:;JJ PART ONE T,Iill N35D FOR A ..'1.APID INTENSIFICATION OF COASTAL AGRICULTURE.

SUGAR, RICE AND CATTLE, TO''/ARDS MillD FARMING A.

Structure of Agricultural Production in the Coastal Region 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.
2.

3.

4.

5.

Sugar 1 which is already intensive ) roust lose the "plantation II mentality Rice cultivation is entirely unsatisfactory Black Bush Polder ( \ (11) (iii) Mechanisation accompanied by poor crops 38 days of work a year The situation is daily growing worse; water is being wasted.

Levelling, dykes transplanting 9 rotation, etc.

From levelling to transplanting and to double-cropping (vi) Practical remedial measures ::}]J:..C"''LJive orio::.ity 5iy911.
to rice cultivation 1,.vii) Livestock production is in an even \Jorse condition (i V) (v) Fodder improvement, the necessary basis for a new agricultural policy The rotation of artificial pastures with crops is essential to attain fuller employment and intensifi- cation of agriculture 6.

Coconut palm is too neglected B.

The Absolute Necessity of Coastal Intensification through Better Control of Water PART TJO D-:::VELOPI,IBNT OF T:IB INTERIOR 1.

2.
There should be no haphazard settlement of the interior zoning of crops; The success of Ebini, creation of a dairy cattle belt in the ;'intermediate savannahs ;, i 1 3 3 3 G.i 8 10 lG 14 16 17 ] '.3 19 2 2 2.2 24 '- • - , ( ' )
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- 7 - Blast disease caused considerable clamago, and above all 9 \7oods wore no longer under control.
During the export's visit in August 1962 9 too many fields were li to rally overrun by them, and in 1961 this had slov1od dovm tho combines.

"A combine is not a bush-cutter, nor a bulldozer" 1 as Mr Thompson, Director of tho Land Sottloments 9 often says.

This siti.n.tion is primarily duo to the fact that the \1ork is done too quickly, so that the preparation of tho ground remains inoufficient.
Thero is absolutely no levelling of tho plots, so that much of the seed of tho paddies is placed in bad germination conditions.

On tho high ?

and therefore unirrigated,sitos tho rice suffers and is delayed, and this favours weed grm,th :i on the low ground 9 the young rice plants, which arc too subm0rgod in vmter, die and leave largo gaps.

After the sowing, which is often done in tho manner described bove, the fartncrs did not weed, and only some of them used \mod-1-::illors.
The lack of care after sowing is, unfortunately, general.

In all those extensive areas we never saw anyone pulling out tho largest wo0ds by hand which at that stago and in that woed-infostecl condition would have been an economically advant- ageous operation.

The seeds of the weeds will multiply, and the invasion will increase still further next year.

It is the principle itself of this sottl0ment that appears mistaken to the foreign observer.
If the purpose is tho completely mechanised cultivation of rice, it seems illogical to distribute cultivation plots of 15 acres per family, since they are much too small f.a.r.

this technique.

If, on tho other hand the aim is to create small family farms 9 only a gradually mechanised farming system would be worthwhile, to be adopted as the technical knowlodg0 and necessary capital arc accumulated.
To pay for this mechanisation it is necessary to have a very intensive production with a high yield p0r acre.

..

In fact, intensive production is absolutely indispensable for such an operation to be oconomically profitable.

139,000 bags at $6.80 per bag brought in only $945,000 in 1961.

In 1962 i with only 12,000 sown acres instead of 17,000 as in 1961, it was hoped that tho output would reach or very slightly oxcood 9 100 9000 bags 9 or about $700,000.
Even if we add a substantial allow- ance for returns on the plots of 2.5 acros attached to tho homes, the total will certainly not add up to a million dollars of gross income that is 9 loss than one q_uarter of tho level which should be roached as quickly as possible.

'Nevertheless, if cultivation wore carried out properly on levelled, pre- pared, woedod and fertilised land 7 it would be possible to h,rvest 300 bags per 15-acro plot in noxt autumn's harvest.
This average of 20 bags per aero, on 17,000 acres alone would already bring a return of $2.3 million.

,1ith a spring crop raised on half of this area, of rice or a "dry" crop, giving a slightly lower yiold ?

another million dollars of returns could be add0d.

If tho hou qhold plots are given special care, with intensive cultivation of vogctablesl!

> bananas, food crops, and fodder for cutting or pasture for dairy cows, the goal of J4.2 million is by no means impossible.
In any case, ,to 110uld have t0 acld an average $760 of returns per household plot of 2.5 acros.

This calls for a much higher degree of intensive production than that achieved on the average on tho plots already being farmed, which arc themselves perhaps loss than a third of tho total numb0r.

This figure is nevertheless not impossible to achieve.

Mention was mado of a farmer ,,ho sold Jl,000 of swoet potatoes last year.
Of course; tho price will go down with increased pruduction, and it will soon be necessary to give serious attention to outlets and to marketing.

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--·------------· · - - - 1/ In ord0r of importance 9 svreot pot at oos, okra 7 bananas and plantains, cassava., tomatoes, popper, eggplant, pumpkins •••••.

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- 9 - per acre, came to , 262. ,feed k:illor was J6 and transportation of his 125 bags of crop to tho rice mill rame to 320, Gathering of these 125 bags by reaper-thresher combine cost him $1.50 per bag, or $187.50.

This brings total expenditure to $758.


As his bags were sold for an average of $6.20 each ( 'ueat.ing having lowered the quality below average) his returns amounted to J775, or $17 more than his expensesJ It should bo noted that his returns correspond exactly to the polder's average, and that t e expenses were nearly tho same for all the farmers.

Of course 1 tho work done was not groat, since tho farmer sets it at about 38 days per year for 15 acr1s, but these days brought a return of only 45 cents each.
: So 38 days per fsmily per yea.r is all the work the present con- cept of extensive and mechanised farming was able to givo a settler farmer family.

It is a marked failure for tho settler, but it is oven more sorious for the nation.

Black Bush is at a real doad end, as tho situation is rapidly growing worse.

Tho minimum amount spent, not counting civil engineering 9 for installing 1,172 families, totalled 12.6 million; or over $10,700 per family.
This makes an invested capital of (17,000 divided by 38) 447 dollars to provide one day of farm work per year.

Naturally this figure is open to criticism since some of the farmers have put in a great deal more work on their house- hold plots, and ,10 have already mentioned that some of them have obtained large vegetable crops from these plots.

But out of 1;172 settlers, only 406 actually livo on tho spot, that is, one third.
Much less than a third of these housohold lots arc really used, and then only to the extent of a bare fraction of their potential output.

The work provided for the workers outside British Guiana who manufacture 11 tho tractors, combines, gasoline, weed killers, lubricants, etc.

\lould per- haps be comparable (although it is very difficult to make an exact ostimato) to tho jobs created for the Guianesc in the paddy fields themselves.
Ml: onncth Berri 11, in his int Hosting "Report on tho British Guiana Development J?rogram 1960-64 "The cost per family settled, both in acreage (17 acres) and in money (about $2,500) is very high.

Most of the expansion of agriculture in acroago andin numbers omploycd must come from individual initiative.
It is cheaper •.• " \.That would Mr Bcrrill say, aft-er criticizing a cost of P2, 500, if ho were to learn that tho total cost to tho state treasury for installing a family in tho Black Bush Poldcr amounted to $1 7 ,OOO?

page 33, notes It is into.L·esting to obs:::,rve that this figure of $17 ;000 is .

:1lso currently reached in Israel.

But for that price tho settler receives prossuro irri&ation facilities operating by sprinkling, complete drainage, a house, a planted orchard :; and rnrking capital.
His annual gross output very quickly reaches a rate much higher than tho $5,uoo per yoar nccesJary to begin making tho operation economically profitable to t110 country.
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- 14 - -!e feel it would be preferable to increase e_mployment by more intensive farming 1 levelling and perhaps transplanting.
Rather than mechanised cutting of t o thirds of the paddy fields, we ,,ould r commend an overall mechanisation that would save labour by t.10 thirds .,ith the use of less costly materiaL that is, the motor-mm,er and } later 1 the reaper-thresher.

This would make it possible to recuperate the straw hich could be used for fodder and stable bedding.

Bla .

Bush Polder.

is he::idin_g_ for disaster unless reallL.

effective measuresY are taken at_once.


It will be shown in Appendices IV, V and VI that at Abary, and even more so at Vergenoegen and at Anna Regina, the situation is not as bad and is even a good deal better than at Black Bush Folder, although it is not yet really satisfactory.

HOi,ever, an irrigation net,10rk often costing over $700 per acre cannot be paid for uith a single rice crop per year.
Although in 1960-61 Guiana exported 15 million of rice per year, it spent 8 million on the purchase of farm equipment a good part of which was for the paddy fields.

And it also imported foodstuffs for a much larger amount, at least $21 million.

Therefore the priority given to rice 9 :,hich brings such low returns for the last fifty years seems excessive and economically dangerous to the country's future.
The irrigation and drainage of high lands woll suited to crops other than rice and ,vhich generally bring hig.1er returns therefore deserve priority.

This calls for a thorough re-examination from a new angle of all the irrigatio projects currently under study Priority should thus be given to the high 1 fertile lands which, because of their location, will be cheaper to drain properly.
In fact, garden crops could be planted on them (fruits and vegetables, tubers and bananas) hich would replace imports, improve nutrition and even allm1 fer some diversifi- cation of exports.

Zxperiments with industrial crops, such as cotton, will sho;;; ,1hether great hopes can be placed on them, al though the cotton harvest is often hampered by the rains hich are irre6ular and difficult to forecast.

In the midst of all those doubts, one thing is certain.
British Guiana imports large quantities of animal products j ospocially milk and dairy pro- ducts -.1hich it could produce on the spot.

If irrigation networks ,ore installed, especially designed for artificial pastures, tho cost of large- scale milk production could bo brought down to a reasonable level (Appendix VII).

To achieve this result it is first necessary to completely modernise the present conc0pts of animal husbandry.
Stock-raising in Guiana's coastal region may be described as an "East Indian" type.

The animals are hold more or less for tradition's sake, and are maintained as a form of savings against the time when an urgent need for cash may arise, or to provide do rries for children !

·.ri th t:1is concept, numbers count more than productivity > and capital more than current income.

The coastal region harbours far too many animals, not in relation to hat it could feed, but to its fodder resources.
such as they are, being utilised at present.

1./ Naturally such measures can be diffGr0nt from those we arc suggesting, -----·- .. -- - ---- but they must in any case be carried out.
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clearing is least expensive 9 has been considered.

But tho proximity of the river affords such advantagcs 9 in the case of irrigated pastures for cows, that the clearing of forests, if they arc on bro·.m sandy soils; could also be examined.
If shade is provided by hedges of Leucaona glauca (Mr Hale even advises their use for feed) and of Glyricidia (Quick stick) periodic cutting ·11ould also make it possible to supply a large amount of added fe:;d. Planting beforehand of Glyricidia ( or of Saman) ':1ould ma.

}:::c it possible to use them, as in Cuba 9 o.s live stakes for onclosur3 .riring cheaper to set ug and maintain than deadwood fence pickets.
Should this "dairy bcl t" turn out to be profitable after the first trial poriod 9 the projected beef-cattle belt may have to be pushed a little further av1a.y from the river.

The United Nations Soil Survey team has al:ccady found that at least 200 000 acres of intermediate savannah 110ar the Ebini River could be d votcd to beef cattle.

At tho reasonable level of production foreseen by Dr Legge this uould correspond to 50 animals of 500 lb.

carcass weight each per 100 acres.


This would amount to 100 7 0 0 0 animals to be slaughtered per year from 200 1 0 0 0 acres 9 once the herd is constituted and operations are moving at cruising speed.

If this target is energetically pursued as from now; it could be reasonably attained by 1975 or 1980.

At that time Guiana would be a meat exporter 9 and the problem of the Rupinini savannahs would have to be re-examined.

This plan also requires that the problem of liver cirrhosis be solved.
However; it does not appear to be serious, except on natural savannahs 9 as it has not yet been observed on the artificial Pangola pastures.

·1e are proposing only the use of such artificial pastures 9 even though they are more expen ive.

As we have already shown, the cost of overhead irrigation, buildings, roads for milk collection 9 and the dairy plant must be added to Dr Legge's estimates for creation of pastures.
Furthermore 9 a region thus developed will need to be connected with the coast by a proper road 9 extend- ing the present road a·nd trail from New Amsterdam to Mara as far as Ebini.

But the production level that can be reached would largely justify these expenditures.
The income to be expected from such a project should be much greater (we will come back to this point) than that of the large .. JOrks for water cnntrol and irrigation devoted to rice at present 9 especially within the framework of present techniques and the rather low yields.

In this plan, ·11e assign a certain priority to dairy production, which seems much more profitable and is certainly capable of creating more jobs than beef cattle.
However, once the "ope.ning up" of the region has been made for this dairy production 1 ,,hich will take up very little area 9 the overhead costs of the projected road and population centre vill be more idely distributed if a beef-cattle area is created around it, Ho ever, if the market for milk should turn out to be better 9 compared to that for moat 9 in 1970, say, than in 1962 9 anothar more intensive project could be drawn up 9 in uhich milk would play a more important part.
In any case, the Holstein steers should be raised for maat production 9 as the least expensive meat (especially hen increased employment is the primary object- ive) is that obtained as a by-product from clairy cattle, discarded co·,:JS, bullocks or steers of the mill: stock.

However, Guiana's situation is basically different the total elimination, where, for a better use of the scarce land and over-abundant would suggest In British Guiana?
as in British Honduras, profitable and drinking water for livestock could be cheaply supplied.

of land and it would probably be rather difficult as soon as possible, means of utilising the savannahs to move manpower it could be considered a very in those areas where fertilisers There is plenty elsewhere.

of beef oattle.

from that of Jamaioa labour, we The beginning of the scheme would ae a pilot state-operated al station.
This size, based between 1,000 and 2,000 acres for intensive dairy reasonable would mean a milking centre for each group of 500 cows.

An annex would raising the young animals replacement, up to 2½ years of age, as well as heifers for production, with be added for and c��s between lactation periods.
on the present Ebini experiment for slaughter, bullocks farm of For meat-cattle, a reasonable size for a pilot state-operated farm unit of that each independent could be set at around 10,000 acres, provided 2,000 or 2,500 acres can have its own machinery (anclosures, repair workshop, would be projected with production.

Besides an animal husbandry of a veterinarian for this group of farms seems indispensable-to to serve the entire region, and its capacity The technical and health management, pastures).
and supervisory personnel along with the would cover the whole 10,000 acres, but the slaughterhouse expert, the permanent presenca its success.

should expand This .is in fact· an agro-indus trial project whose success depends chiefly on the competence fied technicians, it would be best not to attempt it) it would turn into a very ri�y venture, capital would be and an enormous amount wasted11 of the technical personnel of investment employed.

�ithout highly quali­ 3.


The Rupinini savannahs (South-western British Guiana) We did not have the time to go and study this problem on the spot because us of little importance it seemed to formed an idea of its possibilities through the Venezuelan of British Guiana.

This impression specialist is entirely s. in the near futuro.

.le had already our visit to a nearby area of "Gran Sabana" far south of Ciudad Bolivar and near the frontier borne out by tho soil This land is too poor.
On the chart entitled ''Broad-soil associations is classified of British Guiana" by Eitel H.G.

Braun, 1962, the whole of the Rupinini in group 5: Lateritic lato­ eavannahs aol, ground water latarito and hydromorphic s are practically possibilitie l'he region bordering the lower and middle Berbice behind the rich clays along the river belongs With inclusions British Guiana there are perhaps 55i With suro agricultural Section • possibilities which we TTill specify in soils".
Kr Braun·estimates nil, in the state of our present knowledge.

of hydromorphic that in all of regosol, Part Three, concretionary to group 4; "Sandy regosol and sandy yellow latosol; soil.

This group's agricultural of sandy brown soils in this group, The only critical oommont FAO soil chemist, received R.B.

Cate.
Cate.

It is extremely to date (1/11/62) interesting is the one from the and it has cert­ Mr Cate writes: Regarding mixed farming in the coastal clays soils, which are well suited ainly been taken into account.

"Why emphasize to monoculture, and not on the brown sands, which are so well suited to mixed farming?

cotton, peanuts, soya, coooa, coffee, black pepper, etc.

rather than just cow•, whioh after all are among the few 'crops' sui tad to the ooast."
Thia opinjon merits close attention It also seems to me that the brown sands should be considered and may lead to reconsidering this Ebini project, my oonohlai�.

for ,. )

.. - 2" - Another fundamental reason for giving preference to.

the Ebini sector is that the Rupinini savannahs are too distant to allow the shipment of -ferti— liser at low cost.

Only mining resources attracting a large population would make profitable a development .of agriculture.
At present, only the experiment with cashew nuts seam.worth trying, as we have already suggested for the Pine ridge soils of British Honduras, If such an experiment turned out to be promising, a plantation centering.

around a shelling factory could then be envisaged.

The only mode of utilisation at present, that of cattle, has been intro— duced only because of the low establishment costs, in steppes that did not need clearing before utilisation.
But.these ranches represent one of the most extensive forms of production in the world with an extremely low output per unit of area on one of the world's poorest soils.

The Rupinini Develop— ment Corporation maintains a herd of 23 to 24,000 head there.

In normal years the number of brandings varied between 3,700 and 4,750-, and the sale of animals ranged from 2,034 to 2,159 animals per year.

Only young males and some discarded heifers are sold around 4 years of age, weighing on the average 450 lb.
carcass weight, and the old cows are not used at all, .So the number of head sold per year is one per square mile, the area exploited being 2,195 square miles, and does not even come to 10% of the total herd.

This proportion could be substantially increased if the cows were slaughtered for meat while still young, for instance after production of three calves; this would make possible, with better care, an annual slaughter rate of at least 15% of the herd.
Still it would be necessary for the cows to be a little better appreciably increased.

It is by no means certain that in this inaccessible location all of these measures are economicallyjustifiablel'.

their mortality rate lowered, and their fertility When the scanty natural vegetation becomes too coarse, it is set afire to provoke the emergence in the dry season Of young shoots which are less lacking in digestible proteins than the old hardened, lignified and silici— fied grasses.
An extremely low output is thus obtained at the expense of national resources as these fires undoubtedly diminish the usable flora, compromising their capital value2J.
When the projects for Ebini, which have been very roughly outlined here, have entered the phase of active implementation, and if the first stages of expansion prove satisfactory, the advisability of continuing such extensive livestock raising in its present form in Rupinini must be reconsidered, 1/ Not having been on the spot, I am not in a position to give an .authoritative opinion on these problems.
2/ Sep Dumont, PI, "Terres Vivantes", Plon 1961, to be issued in English by the Merlin Press, In Chapter 2, the extremely low production of the "ilanos" of the Orinoco with 4 to 5 kg.

of liveweight meat per hectare and per year is underlined.

In the case of the Rupinini Development Corporation we fall short of 2 kg., a record for its low level, but in a much poorer _environment.

The difference in the agricultural potentials of the two environments seems higher.
especially if it is proved that this deteriorates the flora, and therefore the national wealtid,./.

But there are other considerations, such as invest- ments already made, which -would have been more productive with intensive exploitation around Ebini.

At thetime they were made such possibilities could not be seriously considered.
There is also the need to bring the Amerindians of the interior into a more productive money economy; but this seems easier to do through cultivation of many small, rather fertile patches of land than through such extensive livestock raising.

In the meantime, greater attention could be given to mineral deficiencies and to minor elements.
Sheep appear at first sight better suited than beef cattle to such poor, and especially such irregular, fodder production, pro- vided the lambs are born at the beginning of the big grass-growing season, so that the ewes can have abundant and good quality feed during their lac- tation and dispose of grass which still retains its feeding quality during the fattening period of the lambs, which could be sold at around 6 months.

Very good veterinary care would be necessary but this would be easy to achieve.
At that stage, some supalementary fodder crops, rich in protein, could be considered profitably.

But all of this seems to have much more chance of success around Ebini.

Even soils poorer than brown sandy soils would undoubtedly be cheaper to intensify at the present stage, partly due to their closeness to the river, than this inaccessible region.

It would thus seem necessary to reconsider this entire problem of the development of the Rupinini savannahs.

A thorough study of the question is necessary.


Meanwhile, this is the reaction of an elderly "ranchero" of Rupinini after a trip in the Cayo region of British Honduras] "If I were ten years younger, this is where I would settle.

At my age it is too late to start out afresh".

The full meaning of thisstate- ment is better understood after visiting that same Cayo region .2./ The prob- lem of the forests seems much more important for Guiana's economy than this extremely extensive livestock production.

4.
4.

 Guiana's forests can produce much more Exports of forestry praducts, including balata, totalled $4.4 million in 1960; but $1 million should be deducted for imports of wood and wood pro- ducts, leaving $3.4 million net forestry exports.

In 1957 the total was only '62.5 million, but since then the situation has improved both as regards ex- ports and imports.

Nevertheless, according to Mr Low (and this seems obvious) much more could be done.
The neighbouring West Indies all suffer from timber shortage and a large part of their supply comes from North America and Europe, that is, from sources further away than Guiana and therefore with more costly transport.

For a long time, Greenheart (Ocetea rodiaci) was exploited almost ex- clusively, like Mahogany in British Honduras, and with the most primitive methods; every tree cut down that had the slightest defect is still left on the spot!
On the other hand the sawmills are vary out-of-date, which leads to poor quality of sawn wood.

As a result a high proportion of it is exported as logs, without a sufficient "added value" in the form of labour input.

1/ This deterioration of the flora is questioned by Mr Cate.

It is definitely proved in Madagascar, where it leads to the predominance of Aristide.

2/ The Cayo region offers much bettor natural conditions than those of Ebini.
If Ebini and Cayo lay within the frontiers of the same nation, we would never have ventured to make the proposals described in the preceding section, for the Berbice river banks.

,X4iffiT'',47 v";',,, ....97,e7s7,..,-- rtv'el.W•11.N"'1511r..4NERIT A gra4t effort has been made at the state-operated plant of Georgetown to promote the utilisation of Guiana woods other than Greenheart.

As a result, the latter has fallen from 90Y0 to 60 of exports.
This should be followed up by further efforts for the rapid modernisation of the saw mills, which would justify the allotment of government credits provided they are soundly utilised.

However, another possibility deserves to be explored, aiming at massive exports of a large variety of woods, both as regards species and dimensions.
In British Guiana, in contrast to Equatorial Africa, the groat majority of trees remain small in diameter and could be used in large volume "in some bulk-processing plants which can utilise the majority of the trees, irrespect- ive of species and size".

The manufacture of wood fibre, fibre and particle board seems to have great prospects.

The utilisation of forest products should no longer be considered in isolation, as other sources of cellulose exist nearby.
Sugar-cane bagasse has already been mentioned, and rice straw could be added.

Mr Le Cacheux, in his interesting "Report to the Caribbean Commission on a preliminary pulp and paper survey" (FAO, 1956), estimates production of this straw at 293,000 tons, which seems too high, especially at the time of that survey.

The 260,000 acres of 1961 (counting their two harvests) can supply only around 100,000 tons of really available straw.
This is only on condition that the cutting of the rice by reaper-binder is generalised (as recommended elsewhere) since it would be best to leave at least as much on the farm (fallen straw, fodder and manure needs).
The manufacture of wood paper pulp, alone or mixed, therefore deserves a special and very thorough study, since it requires a large investment of capitalg in fact, between W.I.$50 and 60 million would be needed for a plant producing at least 100 tons of pulp per day, which is the only kind that would be profitable.

'Mr Le Cacheux prefers the banks of the Demerarafrom Mackenzie to Georgetown to the famous Bartica "triangle" where the bulk of forest exploitation is concentrated at present.
Obviously we cannot solve this problem, which urgently calls for a thorough study.

Mr Le Cacheux recommendsg "that more thorough investigations be carried out into the complex potentialities of British Guiana for the manufacture of paper pulp and paper.

In this field the country offers most promising pros- pects, both technical and economic.

The establishment of a plant for the manufactufe of high-quality bleached pulp is particularly worth careful con- sideration".
We think the time has come to actively carry forward research in this direction, so as to move on as soon as possible to the stage of initial implementation, in the form of specialised plantations, if the conclusions of the study show this to be economically promising.

The time has also come to call the attention of Guiana's forestry experts to modern concepts of intensive forestry1J.
Eventually, an artificial forest planted in a readily accessible place can often supply bulkwood more cheaply than a natural forest, just as improved pasture is more profitable than rough natural pasture.

A recent study in the Ivory Coast has shown that 250,000 acres planted along the rivers would produce as much as the 12 million acres of natural forest which at present, as in British Guiana and British Honduras, are merely "skimmed" of valuable species.
1/ For documentation, the Forestry Division, FAO, Rome, could be contacted. '
7
costing study ------------- -- .. ' - 32 - ..
9
1
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7
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11 11
11 I ' " ' ) - .36 - Guiana is actually a very s.-.iall country, practically limited as far as agriculture is concern0d to 2 9 500 square m i h s of its coast ?
or 56,; of Jamaica's area, and even less in terms of population.

In ependent Guiana must seek first and foromos to eliminate its main forms of waste.

There is a waste of organic material if forests arc cl0ared by fire, which also burns the humus of the top soil.
The large and medium sized timber could be taken away in the coastal area where there is a market, and the small branches 9 t igs and brush could be reincorporated.in the soil by pressing them down uith a heavy cylinder equipped with cutting irons of the "L,rnuaise brush-clearer" type the soil is justified, i7hereas a bulldozer levelling everything indiscriminat0ly should be considered destructive.
This cind of mechanisation which improves There is also a ,,aste of fodder, of ,,hich that of the cane tops is the most outstanding.

·.ve have shown that rice stra\7 9 uhich at present is burned 9 can be used as industrial raw material (pulp 9 fibre , as fodder and for mixing with manure, or it can even be directly incorporated in tho ground.

Other wastes of organic matter (animal and human excreta and green manure) and of fodder are countless.
There is a waste of the livestock capital 9 or the animals, when these are given only a maintenance ratinn that keeps them alive and are given almost nothing for production of milk and meat.

Sometimes it would be enough to add just mineral salts and some proteins to double or even triple this production.
There is a waste of labour when a single person guards only t o or three animals, whereas a village guard assisted by trained dogs as in Europe during the nineteenth century could guard all the cattle of a village, which would also e:1.able all its children to attend school.

Soils are wasted when they are tr,ated like a mining exploitation, without a resti ution of organic and mineral fertilisers ) or when they are leached by over-abundant irrigation, in which ease there is also a waste of water.
This becomes even more serious when it is a question of pumping the v1ater (and of double pumping if it is necessary to re-pump in order to drain), as there is then the adlitional aste of power.

This enormous mass of multiple wastes is practically encouraged by an improvident fiscal policy and especially by the absence of a land tax.

Its collection in France t rards the end of the 18th century, under the influence of the Physiocrats, gave agri ?-,1 tural progress a decisive impetus.
"-le have already point od out elsewhere£/ that the extremely lo\7 land tax, along with the persistence of a quasi-slavery, vms a basic cause of the immense back- wardness of South America's agriculture as compared ith that of North America.

This in turn contributed to industrial backv1ardncss and both then combined in their reciprocal effects.

·------- ----- ----- -· 1/ See "Terres Vivantes"s op.

cit.

Chapter I to VII (Colombia 1 Venezuela, .

·-- .. - Brazil 7 Chile, Mcxico 9 Cuba).

y id.

op.

cat.
-- r - : , ' { -
to
pioneers
the
J -
7
11•
- - - - - - - - - - 1/ - - - - -
11 9 - - ., , This seems all the more interesting as the soils suitable to cotton on the coast would be feu ?
formed by clay on sand ) and would often have to be d,3voted to vegetables.

The "cotton belt" J so necessary to Guiana as a basis for industries (fibre, edible oil, oil cakes for feeding of livestock) could perhaps be found here, if there is a dry season to facilitate the harvest.
In view of all these many "agricultural" prospects, it nould seem wisest for the time being to eliminate any idea of la ge-scale pine plantations for supplying a paper pulp factory, as described in Section 4 of Part Tv,o, throughout all of this intermediate savannah.

Such tree plantations should be limited to the needs for furniture ·:;ocid and, in that cnsc, they could be placed on soils that may be fnirly poor but easy to develop and accessible.

4.
4.

Better water contro for 2rops other than rice We have shown that at Black Bush Folder the return on capital invested in irrigation and drainage is much too low.

7e have just seen that the recent extensions of the Tapakuma project, costing $700 per acre, \Jill prob- ably bring more } but gross returns amount to 19% of the investment, at most, \7hich is still insufficient.

No.1here in the world is an irrigation netvJOrk really economic ?
if it r sults in the producticn of a single cereal crop, hence a rather poor one, per year.

Therefore tho old irrigation net,10rks should be examined first 7 in order to achieve double cropping, v7herevor economically possible, obviously with the help of fertilisers and better care to eliminate weeds.

This uould mean tuo rice harvests per year on the low lands ,Jhich are difficult to drain here enough (but not too much) uater can be supplied during the dry season.
One could perhaps consider alternating one rice \,ith one dry crop on the same field each year ) for instance maize, legumes, or sweet potatoes.

All of these crops, and maize in particular, would require the use of fertiliser.

The legumes uould provide higher returns and much more work for the Guianese per acre than rice.

In fact, to continue a policy primarily oriented towards rice is to run counter to considerable difficulties.
'Ve shall shovr in our conclusions that it is much more profitable to reduce the .main imports of foodstuffs.

This uould call for t\10 priori ties.

the first granted to livestock product- ion, the otyer to market gardening (vegetables and fruit).

Therefore we suggest that the land of the new irrigation projects should be placed preferably.
under pastures for dairy cattle, first priority; under market gardening production (vegetables and fruits), second priority y for lands suitable for double cropping, under one rice and one dry crop in the same year, third priority under double cropping for rice, fourth priority.
This implies the rejection, on principle, of any project unable to pro- duce more than one rice crop per ycac, except in veryspecial cases where the cost of water control would be extremely lov1 and v1here it would appear un- economic to attempt any other crop.

Certainly the increased drainage uhich double-cropping would require ;.7ould be more costly, but tho value of the crops obtained could incrc se much more.

ThoMa.

ng-Abnry (M.ARDC)project is already being orinntod in this direction.
It is necess,ry to soc to it that the farmers established in the area of tho netvrork follo\1 tho directions laid down.

and tho payment of taxes corresponding to development costs ,1ould provide a strong incentive tO\mrds this.
- 4c
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... - ' - ,.. - 43 - Another way of approaching co-operatives would be through the co- operative for the joint use of farm equipment as it could be combined with teaMs for agricultural mut¥ 1 assistance carryying out in common the work on the team members' farmsll • Lastly, the launching of these production co-operatives would be easier if they were started on new Crown lands, far from the already assigned farmer holdings, for instance ) around the Ebini station.
The first co-operative members would then be 9 in keeping with Mr Thompson's very interesting suggestion, former workers on the station.

For three years on wages of $3 ) 34 and ,5 per day (this is an isolated sector where -,;,rages are above average) 9 they would be obliged to save $1.50 a day as a condition for joining this cooperative.

In this way it would be possible to extend larger loans of public funds to them.
The allotment to each worker of 50 acres for intensive agricultural use, capable of producing 25 beef cattle per year or a gross output of $3 9 750, may appear at first gla.nce a reasonable objective.

In fact, experi- ence alone will enabl"e us to det3rmine the size of the farm 9 and the large farm of 1,000 acres with three workers outlined in my report on British Honduras would have a much higher labour productivity.
These fifty acres would not provide enough employment eventually, but in the beginning there is all the installation work to be done.

Moreover, to endow each person at the outset with a capital higher than that required by 50 acres of intensive pastures would mean favouring him too much.

How- ever, the technique of beef cattle production absolutely requires the large- scale form of enterprise.
Therefore > the possibility of intensification by a shift to dairy production or of further extension through the resources acquired by the co-operative must be seriously considered for the future.

There.is another possibility of intensification; by putting some of the land under crops.

But we shall leave this to the future.

All of these decisions obviously hold political implicati ns.

'J\r10 other groups of co-operatives seem to deserve special attention.
The first is that of irrigation and drainage co-operatives, which would be given the duty of collecting maintenance taxes and of supervision of the net- work and the use of water by the farmers ?

under the technical direction of the competent body.

Some maintenance works could be done by labour contri- butions 9 instead of requiring cash payment for everything even during the agricultural off-season, or after a poor harvest.

The second group would consist of the credit co-operatives which ?
as Black Bush Folder shows j require increased precautions.

One of these could be the joint guarantee or security provided by the group, all of whose mem- bers are held responsible for each individual member's debts (on the prin- ciple of the German Reifeisen credit institutions).

Credit would always be extended in kind in the form of labour ?

supplies of seeds, fertilisers and herbicides.

When granted for land improvements, a part of the credit could be used for the payment of labour ?
but the farmer should carry a substantial part.of it.

Such credits would be granted in installments following inspect- ion of the work already completed and with close technical supervision.

Above all, they would only be partial, i.e.

the credit agency would never U See Dumont, R, "Revolution dans les campagnes chinoises" 7 Editions du Seuil, 1957.

I - 44 - provide more than ;::.

part of the necessary investment or cost.


":Vhere the farmer himself has invested nothing, he tends tc be less interested in the success of the operation.

rhat is why all along Guiana's coast we see too.

many combines left exposed to the destructive effects of rain and mud, without care or attention, as they were bought with loan funds.

Co-operation i n a n e country should be closely associated with an in- urease in investments.
If the latter continue to be financed by the state only, their flow will be altog1t:11er inade{!uato to cope ,.rith the needs of development and with the explosive population grovrth.

This involves a very different cone ept from that of the Europ,aan consumers' co-operatives, which aims primarily at enabling the consumers to make small savings in the form of a distribution of profits.
Co-oparatives in new countries should never carry out such re-distribution ut should dev0te all their resources and all their savings for new invest- ments.

In the USSR resources for investment were at first achieved by means of compulsory deliveries of goods at low prices, but the utilisation of these resources was not left in the hands of the farmers, as they were chiefly intended for industry.

Today, the Khol kb.
Today, the Khol kb.

)z must, in addition to the 12% 3hare of its gross income earmarked for taxes, devote 13 to 30% of the same i.ncome for its own investments, which are thus compulsorily fixed at a high level.

The Chinese example shows us the danger, in a baclcv,ard economy, of eglecting too much agricultural investments.

On the other hand, P. Newman ':las shm-m the urgency, and we might say the priority, that must be granted to i r.dustrial investments.
The best way of reconciling these two objectives :ould be to stimulate the farmers themselves to provide (as they have not done so far) the larger part of the investments necessary for the development of agriculture.

Only the sugar estates have done this, thanks to their high ·.egree of technical efficiency, on the one hand, and the artificially high price of sugar pail by the British consumer on the other, It is commonly said that farmers do not have funds available for invest- ment.
This statement should be qualified.

Although there are poor people in the countryside, unsuspected savings also accumulate, usually in unproduct 1 1 ive forms and it would be important to put these funds back into circulation • This woul enable Guiana's farming population to develop agriculture by its own efforts.

Some f rmers of the Tapakuma project asked the Government to build them a roa.d.
vVhon they finally understood that there were really no more cre its available, they were quick in raising the necessary funds th mselves.

It is this new state of mind, one of self-help, that it is most important to develop in the countryside.

- .- , - 45 - 7.

A. neral extension service .2 or one based on.

_th _-9:.iJfer&_l] o_ uct.s.?.


The expert's trips through Guiana were organised on the land settlements or the experimental stations so that there was no opportunity for a prolonged discussion with the personnel of the extension service.

As is the case almost all o er the world, the personnel is not numerous enough in view of the size and the difficulties of the job.

Their technical qualifications seem to be generally quite good 9 although not aluays comprehensive enough.
It does seem that here 9 as in other under-developed countries 9 the lacunae in economic kno·,1-.

ledge are gr1ater 'than in technical knowledge and make it impossible to dra,.., up realistic 11 farm management schemes" or farm plans adapted ix, t m real, possHiili ties.

of each category of farmers.


As the extension personnel have hardly ever worked with their hands 9 they are not always sufficiently interested in reducing the effort required by a given type of work, either by improved hand tools or by a more widespread use of draught animals.

Above all, the supremacy of rioe cul- tivation seems too deeply rooted, and an attempt to :further truly intensive livestock: production on the basis of artificial pastures and fodder crops does not seem energetic enough.
There is a trend of opinion favourable to the creation of an extension service vhich would be specialised according to product nd whose expenses would be covered by a consumer tax and especially by an export tax to be levied on the g ven product.

This would ease the national budget, and the factories utilising the product would participate in the management of the personnel paid in this way and would be directly interested 9 as they are personally concerned with the problem of supplies.
Ho,rever, there are several drawbacks in a system like this, one of them being that a de facto priority would in this nay con- tinue.

to be granted to expo t commodities, on which it is easier to collect taxes.

By the same token, insufficient attention would be paid to products for local consumption intended to improve national nutrition as well as to reduce imports.
Mixed farming and modern livestock production which often constitute the essential basis of progress, are closely interrelated with production for local consumption and would also suffer.

Two alternatives emerge.

The first lies in creating, in addition to these services specialised according to product, a general service more directly aimed at production for local consumption, e.g.

ground provisions, vegetables and fruit and espscially at p oblems connected with livestock production, i.e.
artificial pastures fodaer crops and intensive stock-raising tech iques.

The other would be to incorporate these product specialists within a single general service, so as to preserve unity in the directio and policy of extension and avoid exposing the farmers to multilateral advice 7 which experience has proven can be in many instances conflicting.

e are inclined to choose the second alternative, and two conditions app- ear essential in this case.
The extension service would have to be relieved of any fiscal or repressive duties (enforcement of compulsory measures for crop protection); and it would have to be separated from all welfare, community development and other so-called 11 social" operations.

The extension service should gain the farmers' confidence, hence it should al\rays present itself as their friend and supporter.
Hm1eve:r;9 it must be concerned ni th raising their living standard through an increase in their production to be achieved at the lowest possible cost ;.

the framework of the extension services' ,rnrk is prim- arily technical· economic even though it must necessarily be carried out Yli th a full understanding of the multiple human problems posed by development.
One of the basic reasons for the very poor results achieved by the present exten- sion services is the inadequate technical ualirications of the rural population it deals with.

Agricultural training is so far practically non-existent 9 and it should be provided for urgently.

---- - 46 - AzF_i_cult }'.

?._l trainin_.,g at _all_ educational levels - I 11 8.

The training of the farmers of the future is based on a satisfactory development of primary and secondary education in rural areas.
As such training has to be adapted to the actual level of education of the popu- lation, in the present conditions of British Guiana it cannot progress unless the basic educational level is raised.

HoHever this is a two-way relationship.

General education 9 especially at the primary level, should play an important part in providing the necessary background for agricul- tural training.
This orientation or bias towards agriculture should aim at developing in the children an understanding of the problems of their environment affecting plants, animals and people.

This implies not only a closer adaptation of basic teaching tm1ards the elements of the environment, but also that this teaching should have a definite practical aspect in the cultivation of plants and raising of small animals.
The teachers required for these rural schools should have a specially adapted and extremely good training.

Nevertheless; the above requirements do not imply that the rural school should actually train for farming at such an early stage,nnd consequently no expensive equipment or specialised staff should be necessary.

The pur- pose should not be to provide farm training as such but the basic under- standing indispensable for future agricultural training.

Educators should study this matter very carefully.


In countries where secondary education is still very limited, parti- cularly in rural areas, and where the bulk of agricultural production is carried out by a population with a low level of education; it cannot be expected that graduates from secondary schools villas a rule engage in farming.

For this reason it is not advisable to emphasise too strongly the training in agriculture in general secondary schools.

However, these sohools should ?


as in the case of rural schools, t ansmit a thorough understanding of the problems of agricultural and rural life and make students aware of the resources and possibilities for agricultural develop- ment.

This approach would create a favourable attitude towards specific agricultural train .. ng for those who, after leaving school, wish to engage in farming.
They would thus have an excellent basis for making full use of the agricultural training to be provided by practical fa m schools established for this specific purpose.

The practical farm schools should operate in very close coordination 1vi th the agricultural extension service and should offer training .in very specific matters and in a very practical way to those young farmers willing to go on in this occupation and having the possibility to work as farmers.
This ould mean that every farm school should be able to train 9 through well-planned short courses a greater number of farmers per year 9 and at a lower cost than at present.

The expenditure incurred for this kind of training would be 11ell invested.

Hm,ever, the efficiency of this kind of teaching would depend on a well-trained staff.
The number of such schools t roughout the country would naturally depend upon the total number of farmers and more particularly upon the number showing interest in such training every year.

As this kind of training is intended tohelp the pro- ducer in his elforts J it is desirable that every future farmer pass through different basic courses during the period of his training.
1 / Tii·;-se t-io --ires.3nt;-th ;e.co;;e;dations of the FAO Division concerned ,,ith Agricultural ducation, which do not coincide Rith the author's opinion on this subject.

Professor Dumont's views, however, were already unofficially presented to the Government in his original draft l'eport.

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1 • 53 'ie merely point out, .-ii th the necessary compet_ence to discuss it the extreme importance of the problem of fisheries.
Intensive fish brooding would bo technically possible in tho lakes 9 reservoirs and canals, if the fishing could be properly controlled.

The potential for sea fishing scorns far greater than present production.

Cheap fish f our could first supplement the human diet and especially t.hat .of children and pregnant and nursing ,,omen, nnd then provide cheap proteins for hogs and poultry • 1:1e also recommend trials of pineapples, peanuts and tobacco and an attempt to develop citrus fruits.
But the whole of those develop- ment$, if the tr:L:1ls pr.eve positive 7 should be organised, planned and carried out around· processing plants •.

In this nay, tha.nks to the lowering of collection costs competition ,rnuld become possible J even under slightly unfavourable natural conditions.

However, this is absolutely on condition that the technology, as such, is of the very highest qua1i ty.
Poanut s g r m m on sandy soil v1ould provide, in addition to oil, oil-cakes vii th a high protein content, both for dire.ct human consumption and for animal feed (especially milk co\ls, hogs and poultry).

All of this will still not be enough.

But other hopes may arise from the industrial crops sector and through better utilisation of the present forests, particularly for paper-pulp production.

8.
8.

Co_:tt _t_ri J.s __ to be continued an il palm to be tried With modern insecticides, cotton, at nn equal technical level, can bring three or four times more income per acre than paddy.

The goal of a ton of unginned cotton per acre can by now be envisaged on soil·s with a go9cl structure, adequately irrigated but avoiding any excess of waterll.
The· ground should be levelled, but in such a way as to enable all excess water to run off in the same directi-on, with a steady slope and not absolutely horizont3l, s i t is for rice.

Perfect drain go and plant protection re.the indispensable conditions to the success of.

cotton; ,7hore it ou:n be harvcst•Jd in tho dry season.
'..h th a constantly humid but n verthe1ess q_ui te sunny climate 7 or with an undexgr.ound ,mter lcve,l nt a. rec.sonablo distance from the surface 7 neither too near nor too far, African oil palm (Elaeis guinecnsis) is >1orth trying provided that a large amount of suitable l nd can be found in the r dius of an oil mill.

It ould be best not to go beyond a radius of 8 miles by road to supply an oil mill process- ing 1,000 tons a year.
Ho over such a mill could be supplied from n greater distance with water transport if the plant"l.tion were set up along a river.

Once again, we would give priority to the development of the b st soils along the river banks.

1_/ The :i.verago is around two tons 1 both in tho south-·,rnstern United States and in the Soviet Union.

Enormous resources of Guiana's forests ".lith gross exports of :;4.4 million and net exports of B .
4 million only, forests come far behind sugar and rice, as they have barely been touched, just ·'skimmed off"; and the processing of timber once it has been cut is not carried far enough, the quality of the sawmills and therefore of the sawn wood is very 101.1.
The exploitation of the great bulk of treea for wood fibre, fibre and particle boards, and especially for paper pulp, can provide great resources, especially if we add sugar cane bagasse, rice stra,1 and, some day perhaps, some reeds (utilisation of marshes too costly to drain).
The returns from timber vrnuld increase even more quickly if large-scale Pinus Caribbea plantations set along navigable or floatable rivers were to supply the paper-pulp factories, and if other quick-growing high-value ·,/Ood plantations proved economical despite their very long gestation period.

10.

Development--El:._a..!

!J_subj_eE,.t t 2_.J;_p.

!=)_ av§l._ilabili ty _ _o.


!_hj_g_h_l_y _ _Fal__ifiec!_ Guianese .technicians _1;: ee Annex T) Good use, the full utilisation of available capital, depends first of all on the abilities of those using it.

Of course, there are foreign tech- nicians, but they would be too expensive to obtain and are not available in sufficient numbers.

An immediate and absolute priority should theTefore be given to technical education.
In addition to its usual, specialised sphere (in technical and vocation- al institutes), the training in technical subjects should enter on a large scale into the regular teaching programs at every level, elementary, secondary (classical and modern) and advanced or higher education.

and into all faculties including lav, and letters, which can no longer remain isolated from active development.
Practical agricultural orientation with some manual labour providing the basis for school meals should be introduced in all the r.ural schools.

Iron- and wood-working, and later on mechanics .-,ould likev1ise logically be placed in the urban schools, first on the elementary and later on the second- ary level.

The technical, economic and social faculties should be created first in the future university.
The granting of agricultural diplomas should be subject to a year of practical manual work in the field.

This would give a generation that :rnuld be more efficient in carrying on extension work, particularly if it has a clearer view of social problems and a sound educat- ional background on the basic economics of agricultural activities.

On Independence Day ,,ar should be declared "on poverty ., hunger; illness and ignorance".
To be won, this war would require an effort far beyond that which is being exerted at present.

First of all, everybody must be a.Jle to find .1ork unemployment and under-employment should be reduced quickly if the body of measures proposed above, or other•similar measures, ar rapidly ad?pted.
.,1atev8r the effort undertaken in t::ie primary sector - agriculture, an1•1al husbandry, for sts ., fisheries - it :,ill never be enou h to ensure an adequate Jevelopment of Guiana's economy; because of the handicap of unfavourable natural conditions.

"Therefore, a great ei'fort in ---·- other branches of activity, nnd esp cially industry 1 must be adled to it 11 .l/ y See Newman, P. -;The E;o mic Future of British Guiana'\ op.

cit. '
cit. '

T )960-.6_4._ P - I RE- .AJ)__.PT T(HE LIGHT O)F _TB:i5 TE:4TATIVE pONC VJ3IO .§.

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- 60 - unrealistic to have one third of the v;ork carried out manually and tv10 thirds mechanised for each crop season.
unless really intensive methods arc used, along the lines of Chinese technique.

Manual work is not interesting Other solutions seem more advisable.

First, a greater intensi- fication of rice growing, such as is outlined above.

on each farm, of add with non-subm€.r· ed cro s ( "ground provisions"), and perhaps dairy production.

1 could finally alte nat· indqub]ecropping in the spring on the same soil with the rice (black eye peas, etc.).
Dry crops, where good drainage exists, Then the combination • 1 i J This dairy production, however, would b0 better carr·iod out in speciali ed farm.s.
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1 - 69 - APPENDIX VIII A SM.ALL INDIAN DAIRY FARM AT BETERVER7AGTING - STCOAST D3MERARA) -- CONCLUSIONS REGARDING DAIRY S TTLEMENTS - The small farm under study cultivates about one-third of an acre of Para grass, partly under coconut palms.
This grass is rono,,ed and is re- planted every five years, approximately.

Moreover, the farm brings some 25 lbs.

of grass every day from pastures located further a..-ray, for Ylhich 1.50 dGllars por ucok is paid, Each month 5 bags of dairy feed are given at 7 dollars per bag (or 35 dollars per month), plus 6 gallons of molasses per week.

The milk produced from six cross-bred cows (creole x Holstein) is 60 gallons per week in the good period (January - March) but may drop to 40 gallons or lower.
This gives a weekly average of some 50 gallons, or 2,600 gallons i.e.

430 gallons per year per milking cow if this cow has a period of lactation lasting a year.

This is not a cattle-raising farm ?

as the farm keeps only cows in full production which arc sold when they become dry.

This system increases depreciation costs.


However, oven selling the milk at 64 cents per gallon (recently it was sold at 96 cents), it manages quite well with about 140 dollars gross income and perhaps 90 dollars of net income from agriculture per month.

As a first comment, for the best small producers, t c price of 64 or even 60 cents a gallon is still quite advantageous > even with present pro- duction techniques vrhich are rather out-of-date.
They can be greatly improved in at least five ways (a) (b) (c) By closer study given to feeding, especially regarding proteins and mineral salts v1hich could incr.

:iase still more tho amount of milk pro- duced.

It seems that tho proportion of molasses is too high for good dairy co\7S and tho use of lo.-, quality rice seems less rev1arding than that of rice bran.
By reducing feeding costs without impairing the output through improving by cutting it when it is younger - every four to five wee.ks with applications of ammonium sulphate, othen1iso tho plant will soon become exhausted.

This expenditure in fort ilisers will be easily recouped, to almost double the figure laid out, by the economy on feed and by the increase in milk production.

By decreasing work.
By decreasing work.

If all the Para grass ,7ere produced near the stable 7 transport for this grass would be reduced and tho manure used ,,ithout transport cost.

Such manure is better used for a vegetable garden, the vegetable leaves going to the cows while tho fertilisers would be applied to tho pastures.

In the new settlements, it is there- fQre necessary to locate the grass nearer the cows 7 or bettor still put the cows on the cut grass in the case of a reasonably large farm.
Boat transport of the grass uould be less costly, especially if draught animals ,Jere in general used to pull these boats, using young cattle (from the age of one year as this work is light); or else donkeys, Hhich are greatly under-employed in British Guiana. ]'
9
9
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7
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