Mr. Lucasasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what financial assistance is being given, to enable schemes of irrigation and land development to go forward in Cyprus.
§ Mr. LytteltonThe irrigation programme of the Cyprus Government for 1952 provides for expenditure of some £124,000, of which £85,000 will be met from Colonial Development and Welfare grants and the remainder from the Colony's own funds. This will bring the total made available since the start of the Ten Year Development Plan in 1946 to £789,000, of which £458,000 will have come from Colonial Development and Welfare grants. £641,000 is accounted for by gravity irrigation schemes under which beneficiaries pay from one third to one fifth of the cost, and may be assisted to do so by Government loans.
163WThe agricultural development programme for 1952 provides for expenditure of £38,000 to be met entirely from the Colony's own funds, on soil conservation and land use. This will bring the total made available for this purpose since the beginning of the Ten Year Development Plan to £102,000, £21,000 being from Colonial Development and Welfare grants. The emphasis is on demonstration work and the encouragement of farmers to undertake their own schemes.
The figures throughout are to the nearest thousand.