Abstract

Economic Aims. Handienps and Incentives. The ultimate aim of all agri- cultural development should be to ensure as high an income as possible for every worker on land, and not merely raise the yield per acre or secure a larger return on the capital invested. Comparisons are commonly made in agricul tural publications of acreage yields of particular crops in different countries without reference to the diverse conditions, social as well as physical, in which they are produced. For instance, it is not so well known that in China, which is quoted for high yield per acre of rice and wheat, that the peasant had to sweat more than in any other country on his tiny holding, especially because of the Jack of cattle power; and for manure he has to depend largely on night-soil. In Japan, again, which has next to Italy the highest yield of rice per acre, the tenant cultivator has not only to put in very hard work but he remains for ever in debt on account of the forced use of fertilisers at the behest of his money- lending landlord, and is often obliged to pay off the interest due by sending his children to toil in the small industries run by the same landlord. It is no doubt necessary in old settled countries, where scope for expansion of cultivation is limited and population is already pressing on the soil, that all efforts should be made to raise the yield per acre, if only as a means to raise it per worker. But it is necessary to reckon, in addition to items paid for in cash or kind, the human cost involved in such production.

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