Page 442 - PERSIAN 9 1941_1947

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SECTIOILH.

(a) Cereals.
As a result of the bumper wheat harvest the Persian
Government were able In May to discontinue the rationing of
wheat, and for the first time for many years large quantit­

ies of wheat and barley wore brought into Bushire from the
surrounding countryside for sale in Bushire town.
-
(b) The Shnbanafkareh Irrigation Project.
Owing to a lack of funds and^ apparently.,, a lack of
interest on the part of the Agricultural Department, this

project has made no progress. There are many square miles
of prairie in the ShabanAkareh area which at present support
only rough grass, and in places a sparse wheat crop, which
could be made to bear a heavy wheat crop if the half-fin-
%
ished canal which runs from Saadabad in the direction of
Deh Khbnoh were to.be completed,, and if the land thereby
brought under irrigation wore to be properly cultivated. •
At present the land to which canal water has been brought

is most inefficiently farmed by the original cultivators
of the area, who still use an old-fashioned plough, quite
unsuitable for irrigated soil. Unfortunately it at
present appears very doubtful whether the Persian Government

will ever achieve the double goal of completing the canal
and training the cultivators how to farm it; properly.
Owing to a lack of funds no progress has been made
with the proposal to utilize the water of the Mund river
for irrigation purposes.

(c) Tea. Sugar and Piece-goods.
The monoply for the sale and distribution of tea
and sugar remained in the hands of the Persian Government.

Ixi Bushire town these commodities are distributed by
coupon. The tea and sugar for the areas outside Bushire
continued to be Handed over to the Raises, who sell most
of the allotment for their villages in the Black Market.

/II.