1. General statement. In order of value of the produce in 1939, the chief agricultural crops in Tainan Province were sugar cane, ¥52 million; rice, ¥43 million; sweetpotatoes, ¥11 million; peanuts, ¥4 million, and jute, ¥21⁄2 million. The province had about 25 percent of the total value of agricultural products in Taiwan. Sixty percent of the acreage in sesame in Taiwan was in Tainan Province, 50 percent of the cotton acreage, 45 percent of the sugar cane acreage, 45 percent of the peanut acreage, 43 percent of the jute acreage, 42 percent of the sweet potato acreage, 20 percent of the rice acreage, 12 percent of the acreage in citrus fruits, 12 percent of the pineapple trees and 10 percent of the banana trees.

Under the impact of war the Japanese are increasing the production of rice, cotton, jute, hemp, and the crops from which oil is derived: castor beans, sesame and perilla. Jute and hemp are needed to make burlap sacks for sugar and rice, 22,000,000 sacks being imported in 1938, mainly from India. Large areas were reported planted to rubber just prior to the war. The availability of sugar from Java and the Philippines has decreased the importance of Taiwan sugar, and there has been a decrease in sugar cane acreage. The 1943-44 acreage was set by the Government at 159,000 ko, which was a reduction of 11,000 ko from the previous year. Some of the sugar mills have been closed or transformed into other

Agricultural Experimental Station at Tainan-shi, Tomon-cho, with a branch at Kagi-shi, Shaten. Cotton Production Guidance Station at Tainan. (See Section VI, "Associations," p. 29 for agricultural associations, and Section VII, "Government," p. 32 for government control of agricultural products.)

3. Farm population. In 1939, 133,082 households were engaged in farming in Tainan Province. Approximately 38 percent were owners, 25 percent tenants, and 37 percent part-owners and part-tenants, the respective figures for Taiwan as a whole being 33 percent, 36 percent and 31 percent. The households in Tainan were on farms of the following sizes:

TABLE 7.-Farm households and size of farms, 1939

Size of farm in ko

Total, all farms_

Under 0.5

0.5-0.99

1.0-1.99.

2.0-2.99

3.0-4.99

5.0-6.99

7.0-9.99

10.0-19.99

20.0 and over

4. Irrigation. The Kanan Irrigation System, claimed to be the third largest in the world, conducts the waters of the Sobun River into the Kanden River and has a reservoir in Sobun-gun, Uzanto, just south of Kanden. The maximum capacity of the reservoir is 5,500,000,000 cubic feet, with a maximum depth of 140 feet. The dam is 4,172 feet long and 184 feet high. About 360,000 acres are irrigated by 800 miles of main water lines and 2,400 miles of smaller water lines. The system was begun in 1920 and in 11 years had cost ¥54,140,000, of which ¥26,000,000 came from the Taiwan treasury.

The water supply is insufficient for two crops of rice a year in the entire area served by the system, and to meet this difficulty a three-year rotation plan was adopted. The whole area is divided into water service districts of about 150 ko (380 acres), which are further divided into sections of 50 ko. Each district is rotated every year as follows: one paddy rice crop is planted in summer in the first section; one sugar cane crop is planted in the second section; and miscellaneous crops are planted in the third section. One complete rotation is made every three years. Water is supplied in the paddy rice and sugar cane fields, while no Consewater is supplied for the miscellaneous crops. quently, water is supplied to paddy field rice from June to September and to the sugar cane fields from November to April.

In addition to the 139,849 ko irrigated by the Kanan Reservoir in Tainan Province, 36,899 ko were irrigated by water utilization association canals and 3,747 ko by private canals.

Water utilization associations in Taiwan are juridical persons with articles of regulations and are under the con

trol of the government which must give approval to the annual budgets. The fees and assessments against members of the associations are collected by the government as a part of the taxes. Associations confined to a single gun are under the gun head; those in two or more gun but in a single province are under the provincial governor; and those that cut across provincial lines are under the Government-General. Each association has a manager who is elected by the members, but the government has the right to appoint the manager if it so desires.

5. Rice. Rice and sugar cane can be grown in the same fields. In late years the Government-General has been attempting to force farmers to rotate rice and cane production, but has met with considerable opposition. The opposition seems to center on the grounds that it is more profitable for the individual farmer to raise rice. A writer by the name of Liu Ming-tien, probably a FormosanChinese, emphasizes this point in a volume published in 1940, claiming that the rotation cultivation system would result in sacrificing the farmers in the long run, and directly or indirectly increase the profits of the sugar companies. Four crops of rice can be grown in the nearly two years required for one cane crop. In addition, cane production does not permit the production of vegetables and livestock, which is possible with rice. Sugarcane is profitable in fields where there is not quite sufficient water for rice, or where the land is not quite fertile enough for rice.

The same writer gives the following tables (8, 9, and 10) comparing the costs of production. Although the tables clearly are biased in support of his position, they are of interest.

TABLE 8.-Income and expense per ko of sugarcane

cultivation

47, 775. 2

27, 190 28.56 165, 513 28. 29 192, 703

30

Wet-field rice, long