Page 272 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (IV)_Neat

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AGRICULTURE
At various times in the past the Government has employed Egyptian and Iraqi agricultural
experts with the object of improving and developing agriculture in Bahrain. Almost invariably it
lias been found that these experts do good work at the beginning of their period of service but
subsequently lose all interest in their job. At the end of the 1368 summer the Government dispensed
with the services of the Egyptian agiiculturist who had been employed for about four years and the
Budeya experimental garden, which had deteriorated greatly during the summer, was put in charge
of a local gardener. Unfortunately a quantity of citrus and other fruit trees, which had been imported
from Iraq, perished during the summer of 1368 and the lucerne crop died. During 1369 the condition
of the garden improved and several acres of lucerne were established but the grape harvest was a failure
owing to blight.
At the end of 13G9 Mr. J. T. Edmond arrived in Bahrain to take up the post of Agricultural
Officer to the Bahrain Government, one of his duties being the management of the Budeya garden.
There arc undoubtedly commercial possibilities in the development of agriculture and horticul­
ture in Bahrain. The steadily growing foreign population, Europeans, Indians and Levantines demand
more and more fruit and vegetables most of which arc imported into Bahrain and sold at excessively
high prices. It is an established fact that most European vegetables can be grown in Bahrain during
the cold weather and certain fruits including guavas, grapes, figs, melons and papaws arc successfully
cultivated in certain gardens, but local cultivators, who like all gardeners arc very conservative, still
prefer to grow dates, lucerne and local vegetables in preference to going in for " market gardening ”.
It is hoped that, if the Budeya garden, and another Government garden near Manamah, can be success­
fully developed, Arab gardeners will be encouraged to grow more fruits and vegetables.
Conditions of land ownership and leases are not conducive to the increase of agriculture. The
best gardens are owned by the Ruling Family and by a few wealthy merchants. They are let, always
for two years, to the Bahama who live in the villages among the gardens. Only the Shia Bahama
and Hassawis will work on the land in Bahrain. No Arab is willing to do agricultural work. It is
not a matter of sect but of habit. The Bahama, who are the original inhabitants of the islands, have
worked in the gardens which they once owned from time immemorial, the Arabs, when they conquered
Bahrain, over a century and a half ago, came from the desert and neither then nor now have they shown
any inclination towards agriculture. Many of the gardens in Bahrain are in poor condition, mainly
because their owners resent having to spend any money on them.
Although the number of people who hire the gardens is comparatively small, and it is said to
be decreasing owing to more lucrative work elsewhere, yet there is keen competition among the villagers
to rent the gardens in their areas. Frequently gardens are let for more than they can produce because
the tenants count upon being granted a reduction of the rent at the end of the lease, which has become
an almost universal practice. Landlords complain that they are forced to let their gardens to the
village Bahama who usually do not pay the full rent and tenants complain that they must at all cost
rent the gardens around which they live as they have no other means of livelihood. A few landlords
work their own gardens by hired labour but this is an unprofitable method. Not only the cultivators
but their families live on the produce of the gardens. The landlords live in the towns, which arc far
away from the gardens and proper supervision is impossible.

The principal crops grown in the gardens are dates and lucerne which are easily cultivated.
Because there is no land or date-tree tax the date-trees have never been counted but it is estimated that
Bahrain grows about one quarter of the dates which arc required for local consumption. Every year
however the area of land which is planted with date-trees is increasing. The date-crop in 1369 was
exceptionally good, the reverse of the previous year. It is to the advantage of landlords and tenants
to keep the price of dates high. At the end of 1368 and during 1369 the Government waived the
import tax on dates and encouraged greater imports by granting barter goods to importers, these
measures, which were adopted in order to keep down the cost of living and which represented a con­
siderable subsidy from the Government, caused resentment among local landlords and tenants.
Petitions were made to the Government protesting against the concessions which were given to