Page 392 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (II)_Neat

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AGRICULTURE.

During the summer an agricultural expert, Hussain Effendi Walidan, was enlisted from Egypt
where he had been working in the Egyptian Agricultural Department. He was personally known to
Shaikh Mohomed bin Isa Alkhalifah, His Highness the Ruler’s brother. Hussain Effendi took over
the management of the Government garden at Budeya.thc Fort garden and other Government culti­
vation. A small committee consisting of landowners who are interested in agriculture, under the
presidency of Shaikh Ibrahim bin Mohomed Alkhalifah, was formed with the object of utilising Hussain
Effendi’s services for the benefit of cultivators in general. The committee organised regular visits
by Hussain Effendi to agricultural districts where advice was given to local cultivators. Measures
were suggested by the committee and approved by the Government for increasing and improving
agriculture in Bahrain and experiments which were carried out at Budeya were shown to people who
were interested in them.
The Budeya garden was again enlarged and crops were grown with varying success. Vegetable
seeds were purchased from the Horticultural and Agricultural society of India but unfortunately the
results were extremely unsatisfactory ; in previous years seeds have been imported from England and
it appears that these produce more satisfactory results in Bahrain than those obtained from India.
It was again found that the cultivation of European vegetables was not a profitable under­
taking as in spite of attempts to produce a series of crops most vegetables ripened at the same time
and owing to the lack of local demand prices which were paid for them in the market did
not compensate for the cost of cultivation.
Potatoes, melons and sugar cane were grown successfully and profitably.
An experiment was made during the year by cultivating a plot of ground on the land near
the wireless pool which was irrigated by a local bullock-worked water well. Lucerne was grown
successfully and it appears probable that all this area on the south west of Manamah town could be
cultivated by surface wells.
The restriction on the drilling of new artesian wells, which is unpopular among landowners
but very necessary in order to conserve Bahrain’s water supply, was not lifted in spite of numerous
applications to drill. This prohibition tends to restrict the increase of cultivation but it also causes
some cultivators to take steps to eliminate waste of water.
A detailed and thorough report on the water situation was made by the Bahrain Petroleum
Company and submitted to the Bahrain Government. This dealt particularly with the area between
Seddad and Zellaq and revealed that quantities of water watebeing wasted in that neighbourhood
where most of the gardens are the property of His Highness the Ruler and his relations
and dependents.
Theherd of Government cattle waa removed from Budeya to Manamah owing to the difficulty
of transporting milk. They provide milk for the Government Hospitals which is of very good quality
but not better than the milk from the local breed of cows. They are larger than the local cows and
require more food, their chief advantage is that they remain in milk for a longer period than
the Bahrain cows. They are used in India as dual purpose cattle, for milking and for working in
carts and ploughs, etc., but in Bahrain bullock carts are not used and no ploughs exist.
PASSPORT DEPARTMENT.
Revenue from passports, etc., amounted to Rs. 11,550 during the year which was Rs. 2,500 less
than in 1359. Owing to the war the number of travellers decreased. Few people from Bahrain did
the pilgrimage and fewer persons visited Bahrain from outside. In 1359 almost 14,500 persons entered
Bahrain but in 1360 only xi,ooo arrived of whom 1500 came by steamer, 9,100 by native craft and
365 by air.
During the year 97 prosecutions were made against persons who landed in Bahrain without
passports. The police patrol on the south coast of Bahrain reduced the number of Qatar subjects
who in previous years landed illegally in the neighbourhood of Jaww and Door.
Persian divers employed and indebted to Bahrain nakhudas were permitted to enter Bahrain
without passports after verification by the nakhudas.