jarat; the area under this crop was about 400 acres before
the War, in 1924-25 it rose to 40,000 acres, in recent
years it has exceeded .75,000 acres.1 The tendency that
we have noticed above towards increasing attention to
non-food crops is true of all districts as can be seen from
the following table.

FIGURES IN PERCENTAGES

District
189.5-96
1996-87

Food crops
Non-food crops
Food crops
Non-food crops

Ahmedabad . . .
72
28.
64
86

Kaira .....
92
8
68
32

Panch Mahals . .
91
9
70
30

Broach ....
49
51
43
"57

Surat .....
77
23
38
62

British Gujarat . .
75
25
58
42

Though Gujarat is considered one of the most fertile
regions in India, it is generally believed that the yield
of crops is very low. This opinion was voiced before
the Royal Commission on Indian Agriculture, and one
hears of the complaint generally in rura lareas.2 In the
absence of detailed farm accounts, it is not possible to
have a statistical proof of this tendency. The following
figures show that the yield per acre of food grains, which
in itself is low, has not increased during the last 30 or
40 years, but has slightly decreased.

Years
Annual average yield of food grains •in maunds of 40 seers
Annual average acreage under food grains
Yield per acre in maunds

1891-1900
43,553
2,457
17-7

1901-1910
42,572
2,233
19-1

1911-1920
35,148
2,051
17-1

1921-1926
.22,471
* 1,328
16-9

1 Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture, Bombay Presidency;
1926-27.
2 Royal Commission on Indian Agriculture, Evidence Vol. II, part 2, pages
206 and 313.