Page 136 - PERSIAN 9 1941_1947

-8-
On the whole the health of the town remained good except in the
beginning of the year when some cases of Djph«tfct*ria and Typhoid .
were reported.
Vaccination centres are carrying on as usual, but the C.M.S.
Hospital does most of this work#
An acute shortage of medicines has been felt in Kerman and
the prices of existing medicines have riseji from 500 to 5000
Some chemists tried to compound their own/with, it is reported,
disastrous results in some cases. medicines
(mj Agriculture.
Aqai Jiahmood Shayesteh, helcT the post of the Director of
Agriculture till the 1st week of November, when he was succeeded
by Agha Rasoul Rafiizadeh, who seems to be well-meaning if not
very energetic*
During the year under report the harvest was poor owing to
shortage of rein and snow* Bam district was better off than in the
previous year, but production was hardly sufficient for the
.district's own consumption.

R&fsinjan district which usually supplies a limited quantity
of surplus grain to Kerman had the worst harvest in the Ustan,
owing to lack of rain and crop damage by 'Sen* and dry winds.
The best outfb.T&. was in the Bardsir and Jiruft areas where
the crops were normal and considerable stocks would have been
available for Kerman if the crops had been properly assessed and full
undertaxings taken to sell the surplus to Government. But the
Finance Department officials concerned were inefficient and, in
Jiruft especially, thoroughly cor rapt. The result was that Kerman
has run short of wheat before it need have done.
Cotton*

The cotton crop was insufficient to fuljZfil the demands of
the province (including the 2 spinning mills). The reason was that
the cultivators were discouKgea by the Government deciding to buy
the cotton at the rate of Rials 2,50C/- per ton. Therefore little
was cultivated. The price hos since teen increased to Rials 6,000/-
per ton, bat this is not so great a concession as it appears owing
to the rise in the cost of living. There are better prospects for
the 1943 crop owing not to extra cultivation but to the recent rain.
Rice.
The cultivation of rice was prohibited in this province during
the regime of/ex-Shah, as his orders were that the rice of Resht
and Uazendran, produced in the 3hah*s ovm fields, should be sold
throughout Iran and cultivation in all other provinces should cease.
-Iftcr the change of regime a limited quantity of rice was cultivated
in Jiruft and it is understood that this year there is likely to be
considerable increase in the Jiruft, Bam and Oorzoo areas.
Opium*

It is believed that the poppy crop was as good as in 1941,
but the Government could not collect more than. 2200 maunds of raw
opium whereas 4 to 5 times that amount was smuggled and disposed
of sufc^ttfously* The Government purchase price was Rials 300/- por
maund and the retail price was Rials 1200/-, gradually rising to
Rials 3900/- per maund towaras the end of the year. The smuggled
opium, which is much superior to the Government opium as only bad
opium is sold to Government, is sold at a little more than the
Government rate. Recently the Government has increased the purchase
price from Rials 300 to Rials 700 per maund.
A report published in a Tehran paper said that Kerman \jstan*a
daily consumption of opium is 540 Kilos, which is probably exngfi®**-
atedj but the fact remains that it Is the biggest opium smoking
0/