208

in his cost of cultivation. It is, however, necessary to re-
member that the big farmer is hit hard by the rise in the
price of all the three, but the small farmer, only by the
rise in the wages of skilled labour, and by the rise in the
price of plough-cattle.

If we balance the extent of the rise in the prices of farm
produce as a whole, with the extent of the rise in
wages and in the price of plough cattle it becomes
evident that the latter exceeds the former. Thus
the conclusion is that the benefit due to the rise in
the prices of agricultural produce is nullified by the rise in
the cost of raising it. This conclusion is further confirmed
by the following considerations :

(i) Our farmers are peculiarly unfortunate regarding
their capacity to take advantage of rising prices of farm
produce. Most of them are virtually forced to part with
some of their produce close upon the harvesting season
with the object of realising cash to pay land revenue. In
our enquiry about the marketing methods of agricultural
products in this village and the neighbouring villages, we
found that this practice was so common that it never
appeared as unnatural to the majority of farmers. What
this circumstance costs the farmer will be evident from
the difference between the harvest prices, and the highest
prices of paddy and gul—the commodities which farmers
of this place generally sell, as shown below.

Rupees per maund of 40 seers

Commodity
Year
[each seer = 40 tolas]

Harvest price in Rupees
Highest price during: the year in Rs.<

t 1924
4-4
4-4

Paddy
\ 1925
»»
5

( 1926
j>
5

f 1924
4
6-7

Jagri
j 1925
4
5

V 1926
5
5