G. WILLIAMSON,
ET
AL.
25
there will be a 50 per cent increase in the yield from land in 10 to 15 years time. As that target is
attained it will be possible to produce 13 per cent increase in the present quantity of cereals on 131
acres, releasing 43 million acres which may be devoted, as suggested below, towards making up defi-
ciencies in human and livestock requirements.
As stated above the production of oils and fats needs to be increased 330 per cent in order to
provide food for human beings. At the increased rate of yield, the 15.5 million acres now used must be
increased to 34 million acres and thus 18.5 million acres more have to be used for that crop. At
present 2.5 million tons of edible oil cakes are produced. When the area and yield are increased,
8.25 million tons will be available. Adding the uncrushed cotton seed which is fed at present, that
is 0.94 million tons, the total of cakes and seed will amount to 9.2 million tons. No increase in the
acreage under cotton seed is envisaged.
To augment the supplies of concentrated food it is suggested that the present acreage under gram
and barley, which are good cattle feeds, may be increased as much as possible or crops of equivalent
value where gram and barley cannot be grown. Six million acres are, however, required for the
cultivation of green fodder; the remaining 18.5 million acres can be devoted to the cultivation of gram
and cereals for cattle. On that acreage, 4.5 and 5.32 million tons respectively can be raised.
The six million acres which may be allotted to green fodder crops along with the 10.5 million acres
at present used should provide, on the increased yield scale, the amount required. More nutrients
can be made avilable from this land if leguminous fodder like lucerne and berseem are grown but,
assuming that the present proportion between the various fodders persists, the 50 per cent increase of
the present out put of 7.5 tons per acre on 16.5 million acres will produce 185.6 million tons at 11.25
tons per acre. Straw will remain practically the same as at present. The food provided when the
above change is introduced in the cropping programme, will be as indicated in Table III.
TABLE III
Food provided after changes in the cropping programme
Feeding stuffs
Green fodder
.
.
.
.
Straw . . . . . .
Cakes and seed
.
.
.
.
Rice and wheat bran . . .
Gram
.
.
.
.
.
.
Barley
.
.
.
.
.
Total
.
.
.
.
Grand Total .
.
.
Shortage .
.
.
.
Total weight
Required
in million
tons
182.6
109.6
27.4
18.3
Feed pro-
vided for
in millions
tons
185.6
114.4
9.15
1.47
4.5
5.32
S.E.
Required
18.26
24.66
42.02
20.00
7.87
..
..
27.87
70.79
Provided
for
18.56
25.74
14.00
6.68
0.63
3.20
4.04
14.55
58.85
11.94
D.P.
Required
2.74
..
2.74
6.85
1.46
..
..
8.31
11.05
Provided
for
2.78
..
2.78
2.29
0.12
0.59
0.39
3.39
6.17
4.88
The only way in which this deficiency can be made up is by an extended programme of making
hay or silage out of the surplus grass which is available during monsoon, and which is otherwise
wasted. There are 136 million acres of grazing land in British India. No precise data are available
as to how much grass this land produces. The limited information we have goes to show that the
production of grass is about two tons green per acre. A third of this can be made into hay or silage,
D.