V. CROPPING
PROPOSALS
5.1
Present Distribution of corps
Within the project area about
300,000 acre are presently under cultivation, of which some 272,000 acres
are required (252,000 acres are under
paddy, 12,000 acres are under subsidiary crops such as chilies,
onions, vegetables, and groundnuts and three are 8,000 acres of sugar cane).
The remaining 28,000acres are planed with rain fed paddy (10,000 acres).
Subsidiary food crops (7,000 acres) and other tree crops (7,000 acres).
Pasture (5,000 acres) and other tree crops (6,000 acres).Thus paddy occupies
about 87precent of the total area under crops, or 93 percent of the area
under irrigation and it is the most important food crop in Ceylon
.
5.2
Yields of Paddy for Rain fed and for irrigated Lands
The average yield of rain fed
paddy in Vavuniya, Polonnaruwa,
and Anuradhapura districts is about 23 bushels (about
1,050 1b)2 per acre, but
the yield ranges from 2 to 50 bushels.
The yields of rain
fed paddy under irrigation also vary greatly in the different areas, from
less than 20 to 30 bushels per acre over large areas, where the traditional
methods are still used, to over 100 bushels per acre which are obtained by
a group of progressive farmers who have adopted modern practices, including
the use of fertilizers. Thus doubling of the present paddy production by large
scale adoption of improved practices, is technically possible and is within
the reach of the farmer, provided that he receives adequate guidance and training.
5.3
Proposed Cropping Pattern
The major objective underlying the proposed
cropping pattern for the new lands is to obtain a high net farm income per
unit of water, taking into consideration, inter alias.
The managerial skill of the farmers;
The present levels of technology and husbandry practices;
The demand for farm product, hearing
mind population growth with time;
Import substitution and exchange earnings.
The choice of crops will
largely depend on the market prospects at the time of planting, and on the
government’s subsidy policy. However, for the purpose of project of planning,
the following, and cropping pattern is assumed for the new irrigated area.
TABLE 1
Assumed cropping pattern
for the new irrigated area
1.
Of 272,000 acres, only 246,000 acres would come within the command
of the proposed irrigation systems (see Para
2.2 above)
2. One bushel – 46 1b of 20.9 Kg of paddy. 100 of paddy = roughly 070
1b of milled rice.
It will be noted from the above table
that considerable importance is attach to crops other than paddy for the new
areas. However it is assumed that the existing irrigated lands will continue
to grow mostly paddy.
5.4
Estimated crop
Output
For the existing irrigated areas the
present water supplies permit growing only 1.37 crops per acre per year. However when the water supplies are augmented, as proposed in the
development plan. It should be possible to take 2 or even 3 crops per
year from both the existing and the new areas. Thus, the proposals of the
Master Plan will involve increasing the crop acres from 340,000 (present) to about 1,800,000 (when fully
developed), an increase of 5.3 times. About 1,000,000 crop acres will be for
paddy and the remaining 800,000 crop acres for cash crops.
In principle, yields of 55 bushels for the first season (Maha)
and of 60 bushels for the second season (Yala) have
been assumed for paddy, which is the most important crop both from new and
existing areas, as against the present average of approximately 30 bushels
during both seasons. The crop outputs for the projects in phase I and for
the entire scheme are estimated as follows:-
TABLE 2
Estimated Crop Output
In 1,000 metric tons
Phase 1
Entire
Project 1 Project 2
Project 3 Phase 1 scheme
Rice
110 30 57
200 780
Sugar
15
19 - 34 70
Maize
8 14 1 23
130
Cotton 10 - 4
14
70
Chilies 3
5
0 8 30
