Abstract

The ryot in India like his brothers in the rest of the world has always been an experimenter. While in the temperate climates the farmer has to work under severe winter conditions, the ryot here has equally great or perhaps greater difficulties to face during the hot summer and drought periods. All his work is one long experiment; the weather conditions should be favourable, his ploughings and general cultivation and manuring should be complete in time for sowing, and when he has sown, he is at the mercy of the weather. The severity of the test may be considerably lessened in those parts of the country where water-supply is abundant. Having once grown his crop, he is then faced with the problem of marketing. He is generally indebted to the village money-lender who demands payment when the ryot is not able to dispose of his produce with advantage. If he had facilities with regard to loan from co-operative societies he is temporarily saved and can store his produce until such time as when he can realize the price he wants. Under the present general eco- nomic depression, however, even this prospect is lost to him.

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