THE DIAN J F IT;: EC.Sni IS

THE DIAN J F IT;: EC.sNi IS Organ .of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics) - Vol. VIII AUGUST 1953 No. 2 CONTENTS Page NOTES AND COMMENTS FIELDS vs. FARMS • • • • • • •• • • Manilal B. Nanavati NOTES ON SOME ASPECTS OF RURAL EMPLOYMENT .. 19 M. L. Dantwala. AGRICULTURAL INCOME AND ITS DISTRIBUTION IN BIHAR _ S. R. Bose • CATTLE PROBLEMS OF GUJARAT, SAURASHTRA AND KUTCH 44 J. K. Desai REPORT OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON AGRICUL- TURAL AND CO-OPERATIVE CREDIT • • .. .. 60 RESEARCH IN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS .. 64 NOTE ON , BOOK REVIEWS (see inside cover) .. • • • • •. .. 84 Rs. 4/- BOOK REVIEWS Theodore W. Schultz, The Economic• Organization of Agriculture - M. L. Dantwala • • 84 Henry C. and Anne Dewees Taylor, The Story of Agricultural Economics in the United States A. Correia-Afonso 85 K. N. Naik, Co-operative Movement in the Bombay State V. P. Varde 86 • United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East, Mobilisation of Domestic Capital in certain Countries of • Asia and the Far East Phiroze Medhora .• 87 Giuseppe Medici, Land Property and Land Tenure in Italy Manohar V. Hate 90 Mario Bandini, Land Reform in Italy H. B. Shivamaggi 91 Karuna Mukerji, Land Reforms H. B. Shivamaggi 92 Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Government of India, Agri- cultural Legislation in India, Vol. Hi: Agricultural Pro- duction and Development P. S. Sanghvi • • 94 Surendra J. Patel, Agricultural Labourers in Modern India and Pakistan K. D. Shah 95 Oscar Lewis, Life in a Mexican Village: Tepoztlan Restudied A. R. Desai 97 Bhabatosh Datta, The Economics of Industrialisation: A Study of the Basic Problems of an Underdeveloped Economy V. V. Bhatt - • • • • 99 Frank Adams, FAO, Community Organisation for Irrigation in the United States I. G. Acharya • • 101 The Reserve Bank of India, All-India Training Classes in Co-operation K. N. Naik • • .. 102 International Labour Office, An Introduction to Co-operative Practice Kishori C. Shah 103 , EDITORIAL COMMITTEE of The Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics PROF. J. J. ANJARIA (Chairman) DR. G. D. AGRAWAL SHRI K. G. SIVASWAMY DR. M. B. DESAI (Managing Editor) of , wo CATTLE PROBLEMS OF q,UJARAT, SAURASHTRA ass AND KUTCH 7 tri '/1/ 11111 J. DESAI brE School of Economics & Sociology noi eas University of Bombay. Th The importance of animal husbandry in a predominantly agricul- bui tural country like India is immense. The fact that our Five Year Plan on] makes provision for 3 crores of rupees for cattle improvement through a 'Key Village Scheme' (better bulls) and 1 crore for the gradual elimina- aware- tion of unproductive cattle through `Gosadans' shows the recent tio: ness of the importance of this problem. Income from cattle forms 50 per thE cent of our agricultural income and a majority of our rural population is reg subsidiary employed in and derives livelihood from livestock either as a a f agricul- occupation or as a main profession. With the improvement in kr manY- ture and standard of living of our people this is likely to increase lik fold. C01 The importance of cattle in Gujarat, Saurashtra and Kutch is much ing greater because there are still to be found well-defined famous breeds of inc cattle and buffaloes in almost pure form, and a large population of a Pas. special class of professional breeders reputed for their inborn skill and far age-long experience. The Kankrej cows and bullocks are the pride of by Gujarat and the whole country. Milk yields and fat-content of milk of itn] the bovine of Gujarat are higher. The per capita consumption of 11 thE in Saurashtra is the highest in the country (18.78 ozs.) and that in North lbs Gujarat is roughly three times the per capita consumption of the India' thi Union as a whole (5.5 ozs.), and four and a half times that of Bombay Sol (3 ozs.). Moreover, Gujarat is a very important source of supply of milk and much animals to Bombay .City. Present Position India today possesses nearly one-fourth of the cattle wealth of the SOr world; but has the lowest per capita consumption *of milk (5.5 ozs.). Ca Due to recurrence of famines, scarcity of fodder resources and lack of good bulls, the animals are becoming dwarfed and mongrels; they mature the late and calve irregularly; their progeny is becoming weaker and of proportion of dry and unproductive animals is increasing; ten per cent of 1. By Gujarat Districts, we mean the ten districts of the Northern Division of ill! Bombay State. Throughout the article, for the sake of brevity 'Gujarat' is used a' including Saurashtra and Kutch. ras 2. Even though mainly bovine is dealt with, other livestock and poultry have al's° been referred to. CATTLE PROBLEMS OF GUJARAT, SAURASHTRA AND KUTCH 45 of our cattle wealth has already become unproductive and the situation is Worsening day by day. The animals which were, and still can be, great assets are becoming a burden to the keepers. The main reasons for this situation are (i) after the advent of the British, lands reserved for pastures have been progressively brought under the plough, making it impossible for the professional cattle- breeders to raise their cattle on ranching system and (ii) farmers have not only ceased to keep cows, but in addition, have turned to growing Cash crops, which has added to the saarcity of fodder and feed resources. This divorce of land and cattle is one of the main causes of the deficit budgets of the farmer and the poverty of the soil; and this is matched only by the poverty of the breeder and his cattle. But, disquieting though the present situation is, it is by no means hopeless. According to Sir Datar Singh, we are in a much better position than that of U.K. and other Western countries when they started the work of cattle improvement fifty years ago. We have still some regions like North Gujarat and East Punjab where breeds are found in. a fairly pure form; and some well-defined breeds of cattle such as Kn- ltrej, Gir, Hissar, Tharparkar, Amrit Mahal and Ongel; and of buffaloes like Murrah, Surti, Mehsana and Jaffrabadi are still not rare in this country. There are still vast areas of remote lands not utilised for graz- ing for want of watering facilities and shelter for the cattle. With the increase in irrigation of food and fodder crops, better management of Pastures, storage of fodder and colonisation of the breeders as mixed farmers, the problem of feeds will be eased to a great extent. Breeding by better bulls, elimination of scrub bulls and control of disease will improve the breeds and since our cattle respond quickly to better feeds, the prospects are encouraging. Our cows have yielded milk upto 10,000 lbs. in a lactation in some cases and the fat-content of milk is high. All this is enough to show that the cattle problem of the country can be solved if effective measures are taken in time. Cattle Wealth of Gujarat Breeds of Cattle: Gujarat (excluding south Gujarat) possesses some of the best breeds of the country, viz., Kankrej, Gir, and Tharparker Cattle; and Mehsana, Surti and Jaffrabadi buffaloes. Kankrej: The preservation of this breed is solely due to the professional breeders of North Gujarat (Rabaris and Bharwads). It is "One of the most important dual-purpose breeds in the purest form which has of recent years been used into promising dairy strains".1 Gir: This. is also a dual-purpose animal and is mainly found in Sau- rashtra. Its peculiarity is that it has reriaarkable capacity for 1. Dr. Kothawala, quoted in 'The Cow in India', Vol. I, p. 139, by S. C. Dasgupta. 46 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS matising itself in any climate of India, and is, therefore, used throughout India for upgrading the local cattle. Tharparkar: It is mainly found in Kutch and Tharparkar district of Sind (which is now in Pakistan) and holds great potentialities as a dual-purpose animal. During the war it was exported to Mesopotamia for military needs and there it could establish its superiority as mulch animal even over the Red-Sindhi. Buffaloes: Surti and Mehsana derive their names from their res- pective localities and are liked by Bombay milkmen because they are of medium size and consequently are economical to feed. Jaffrabadi is verY massive and therefore is not exported outside its home, Saurashtra. All these buffaloes are very good milkers and the butter-fat of their milk ranges from 7.5 to 12 per cent. The highest fat-content of the milk of a Deccani buffalo hardly goes upto 9 per cent. Composition of Cattle-Wealth in Gujarat: The following tables giVe5 comparative population of bovine, ovine and poultry according to 1951-52 figures :— (thousands) District or State Cattle Buffaloes Total Total PoultrY bovine ovine ijarat District (1951-52) .. .. 3739 1923 5662 2039 1384 Si,urashtra (1951-52) .. 964 417 1381 1432 41* utch (1949-50) .. .. .. 208 39 247 443 11 Ti)tal Gujarat (1951-52) .. .. 4911 2379 7290 3914 1436 nnbay State (1951-52) .. .. 11915 4162 16077 6827 6286 Jr dian Union (1949-50) .. .. 133841 39589 173432 79962 5824St , * Excluding Bhavnagar & Gonda]. t 1947-48. From the above table it is evident that Gujarat Districts of the Boni.- bay State possess one third of the bovine population of Bombay State and the whole region including Saurashtra and Kutch possesses almost half the bovine population of Bombay State. The ratio of cattle to buffaloes is 2 : 1 in Gujarat and Gujarat Districts, and 3 : 1 in the Bombay State.

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