'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎172r] (348/470)

subsistence for the ensuing year, each man taking as a reward a certain quantity
of rice, without which he would be compelled to buy in the towm markets. At other
times of the year the fallah Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour. is well occupied with the cultivation of wheat and
barley, except during the fertilising season for rice from June to September, when
the heat is such as to make strenuous outdoor manual labour almost impossible.
The conclusion seems to be that, if anything is to be done to extend or improve
irrigation, either foreign cultivators must be introduced or we must place reliance
on mechanical assistance. The latter seems the obvious solution. In the ‘Ali
Gharbi district the Irrigation Department has undertaken the building of a regulator
at Musandaq. A regulator, having two openings of one metre each, is being built
for the purpose of letting water into the Musandaq depression. When this is
completed “ shitwi ” crops will be assured in the area commanded and it may even
be possible to cultivate saifi there.
This is the only irrigation work which has been found practicable this year.
But it is no fault of the Irrigation Department that considerable areas of fertile
soil have not been brought under cultivation by means of new works. Lack of
labour remains the constant cry throughout Mesopotamia—more especially in
war-time, when all pressed labour is used for Military works.
The Irrigation Department might have paid more attention to the effect of *
the damming of the Majar Canal on the rice crops. It is evident now that if certain
obvious works had been carried out to raise the level of the water by a series of
hamals in the Majar Canal and insisted on a careful damming of the tails of the
‘Adil and the Wadiyah, much of the rice lost through conservancy operations might
have been saved. For an account of the trouble over the Majar dam please see
Diary by the Political Officer, ‘Amarah, for August and September 1918.
It has been suggested by the D.D.I., Tigris, that the remedy for the problem
of keeping the Tigris navigable and at the same time encouraging, or at least not
interfering with, irrigation is to close the Majar altogether, and take off a new canal
from the Butairah, which should be directed towards the Majar, but from and at
a higher level, and thus ensure cultivation on the upper canals of the Majar without
damage to the rice fields at the tails of the canal. It would be difficult to persuade
Shaikh Majid that such a scheme is to his advantage, but that is no objection to the
scheme from a theoretical point of view.
4. Agriculture. —Plenty of early rain has fallen, which has damaged the
rice crops to a considerable extent, but benefitted the land for wheat and barley.
A large acreage has been ploughed and this should ensure a good wheat and barley
crop next year.
Floods have been very bad in some parts, more notably in the lower reaches
of the Butairah Canal. Shaikh Ziyarah-al-Mahi, of the Azairij, seems to have been
the chief sufferer.
Shaikh Tahir-al-Hatim, of the Albu Muhammad, has been allowed to let his
land lie fallow this year, as is his custom once every five years.
The vegetable crop of ‘Amarah seems to have been a bumper one, and there
has been no lack of the same for the troops and population alike.
The tribesmen do not seem to have been very keen on buying Karun wheat,
the price being somewhat high, and they being suspicious of the results of planting
the same, having had no luck with the Indian wheat issued to them last year.
The rainfalT in the beginning of 1918 was excellent and this resulted in an
excellent barley harvest. .
The high river and late rain also produced a bumper rice crop. Ibis promised
excellent results, but the abnormal rainfall in the autumn somewhat spoiled the
promise of summer. The rains in the month of December have been timely and
acceptable and the fallahin Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour. are to be seen everywhere busily engaged ploughing
the land.
Aqricultural Loans at ‘Ali Gharbi. —Last year’s loans in cash and grain were
recovered in full, and the following amounts have now been advanced to the Shaikhs
for the coming season’s cultivation :
Shaikh Juwi - - " “ - Fs. j^OO/-
Shaikh Kamandar - - - - ” aaa/
Shaikh Abu Rishah - - " ” o’aaa/
Shaikh ‘Ubairah - - - “ ” b,000/
5 Municipality : ‘Amarah (Town) : Licences.—DuAng the early part of the
year apparently no record was kept of the issue of licences to shopkeepers, coffee-