Census Of India Punjab And Delhi

· 1923 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

110 PUNJAB CENSUS EEPOBT, 1921. CHAP. I.— DISTRIBUTION & MOVEMENT OP POPULATION.

2conditions at the time of sowing ; neitlier of them include land which lies

3fallow for the whole year, though such land may he regularly though infrequent-

4ly cultivated.

5According to the subsidiary table, 05 per cent, of the total area of the

6province is fit and available for cultivation, whilst the net and gross

7cultivated areas amount to 59 and 67 per cent, respectively of the cultivable

8area ; in other words the net and gross cultivated areas amount to 39 and 44

9per cent, of the total area of the province. The table also shows that 40

10percent, of the gross cultivated area, or nearly 18 per cent, of the total area, is

11irrigated. The figures in the table however include many for States which,

12owing to an incomplete system of land and crop survey, are of doubtful accuracy.

13The conditions of agriculture uithin the States of the Punjab closely resemble

14those in adjacent British Territory, and the figures which will be discussed

15in this and the two following paragraphs are those for, British Territory only

16wliich rest on an unassailable basis ouing to the completeness of the land revenue

17records.

18In the records-of-rights, which are revised every four years, the term

19cultivated area includes fallows which have been rmder crops sufficiently recently

20to warrant the belief that their cultivation has not been permanently abandoned,

21and this cultivated area is described as irrigated from wells or canals if it can be,

22and has recently been, so irrigated, notwithstanding the fact that it was not so

23irrigated in the year when the record was prepared.

24According to the records-of-rights prepared in the four years 1914 to 1917,

25which are representative of the last decade, the cultivated area amounted to 29,140

26thousand acres in British Territory excluding the tribal area across the border of

27Dera Ghazi Khan. The total area of this tract is 27,280 square miles, so that the

28cultivated area amounts to 47 per cent, of the total. Of this twenty-nine odd

29million acres of cultivated land, exactly one half was entirely dependent on rain

30for its moisture, 17 per cent, could receive irrigation from wells, 27 per cent,

31from canals and about 1 per cent, from other sources of irrigation ; whilst the-

32remaining 5 per cent, was liable to inundation from rivers.

33Turning now to records of the area sovm each year, the average for the

34decade since the last census amormts to 27,887 thousand acres, or 45 per cent, of

35the total area, a very slight difference from the gross cultivated area shoum in the

36subsidiary table wliich includes Pimjab States and was worked out from the

37figures for 1921 and not for an average of ten years. Of this sown area, 13

38per cent, was actually irrigated from wells, 30 per cent, from canals, and rather

39less than 1 per cent, from other sources ; this shows that 44' per cent, of the sown

40area was irrigated as compared with 40 per cent, shown in the subsidiary table.

41Irrigated crops are less liable to failure than those which depend entirelv on

42migatod. Unirngatod. inuudatiou for their moisture ;

43Sown .. 12,130 16,767 the figures (averages of the ten years smce last

4411,201 u; 73 o pensus) for crops groum with and -without

45irrigation are shown in the margin, the units

46being thousands of acres ; it will be seen that wliilst rather less than 44 per cent,

47of the crops sown are irrigated, yet, owing to the smaller proportion of failure

48amongst these, no less than 49 per cent, of the matured crops are irrigated ;

49remembering that the yield of all crops is materially increased by irrigation

50it is clear that considerably more than half the produce of the province is

51grown on irrigated lands.

52The revenue department, in addition to compiling statistics of area actually

53sown and matured each year, pre-

54pares an estimate of considerable

55accuracy of the total produce of the

56principal crops ; the marginal table

57has been prepared from these statis-

58tics and estimates in order to show

59the relative importance of the

60principal crops produced. It is of-

61course impossible to value grain'

62produced over a term of years in

63different places, and the last column

64of figures is inserted merely as an

65indication of comparative value.?

66Palled

67Matured

68Crop.

69Autumn crops —

70Sugar cane

71JRice

72Maize

73Bajra • »

74Cotton ^ ,

75Jo war

76Spring crops —

77Wheat ..

78Gram

79Oilseeds ..

80Barley . .

81Sown area in

82thousands ol

83acres.

84Produce in

85thousands of

86tons.

87Value in

88lakhs of

89rupees.

90412

91315

92258

93829

94401

95161

961,123

97379

98171

992,355

100279

101147

1021,540

103373 (bales)

104123

1051,021

106110

10753

1088.951

1091 2,840

1102.C20

111.3,873

1122,840

1131,620

1141,J72

115i61

116130

1171.099

118308

119126