'Military Report of the Nushki-Chagai-Western Sinjarani Country' [‎70v] (145/302)

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The gross cultivable area in the Helmand valley between Landi
Muhammad Amin and the Band-i*Seistan has been estimated by Mr.
Ward, the Irrigation Officer with the Seistan Commission, at approxi
mately 120,000 acres; the area under wheat and barley was roughly 20,000
acres and another 20,000 acres under other crops, so that only one-third
of the cultivable land is utilised.
The yield of wheat and barley may be assumed to be 10 maunds per
acre, so that under existing conditions the annual production of wheat
and barley may be put down at 200,000 maunds, or 7,150 tons, and of
this amount probably 4,000 tons are surplus.
1 he chief crops are wheat and barley and a small proportion of
jonar, pulse, Indian-corn, cotton and melons. Wheat and barley is
grown as a mixed crop in the proportion of two-thirds of wheat to one-
third of barley. The straw of the wheat and barley crops is not utilised
and is allowed to stand in the fields after the heads of the crop have been
cut and it is sometimes even burnt.
The land is allowed to lie fallow one year and is cultivated the next.
Sowing-time for wheat and barley is from the beginning of October to the
end of December; in January the crop is grazed in order to prevent it
growing up too thick. Harvest begins in May and extends into June.
T he soil is a light loam and is of a yellowish colour, with patches of
kalas, interspersed with occasional wastes of sand and on the whole is
very rich.
The Seistan Boundary Commission travelled down the Helmand during
a period of great scarcity. During the previous year the river was drv as
far up as Chahar Burjak from July 17th to September 23rd, and a great
number oi cattle and sheep perished from lack of water and fodder. Under
these circumstances it was difficult to estimate with any degree of
accuracy what vyould be the number of domestic animals in a normal
year. It is estimated that in February 1903 there were 8,000 cattle,
14,000 sheep and goats, 400 horses and 1,500 camels. In years of pros-
perity there would probably be at least twice this number, if not more.
1 he irrigation system consists of large irrigation canals which take
System of land adminis- off from 7 to [4 miles above the lands they irri-
tration and irrigation. gate# Each canal taking off from the Helmand
is under the control of a hakim, who appoints an official termed
the mirabi as his deputy, under whom is a kotwal.
Each main canal is divided up into a certain number of subsidiary
canals or water-cuts which again are each under the control of a katkhucia
nominated by the Khan. The katkhuda, in consultation with the Khan,
appoints a certain number of zamindars or kashtgirs, each with an allot
ted portion of the subsidiary canal under his control. The kasktgirs
do not actually cultivate the land themselves, but hand it over to bozgars.
The kashtgir supplies the grain seed, plough and all the necessary Agri
cultural implements and also pays the bozgar an annual sum of 20 krans,
termed kafsht, in return for which he has to clean out the canals and
keep them in repair generally.
When the harvest is reaped, the produce is divided up into seven equal
portions, of which the Government tahsildar takes one seventh, termed