§ SIR HOWARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)To ask the Secretary of State for India if he can state the approximate acreage of the land suitable for wheat-growing in the Empire of India; how much of it is under wheat cultivation at the present time; and how much wheat was exported from India in 1846 and in 1902.
(Answered by Secretary Lord George Hamilton.) The area under wheat in British India averages about 20,000,000 acres, and in Native States about 45 2,500,000 acres. It is not possible to say to what extent this area could be increased by substituting wheat for other crops. This would only be practicable in wheat-growing districts, and in them only on lands of the best class where the soil, rainfall, and facilities for irrigation were suitable. Such lands are already occupied by valuable crops. In 1846 there was no export of wheat from India. In 1901–2 10,296,000 cwts. of wheat and 720,000 cwts. of flour were exported.