36. Mr. Scott-Elliotasked the Undersecretary of State for Burma whether he 250W is satisfied that the price offered to cultivators of rice is sufficient to encourage maximum production; the size of the crop which he hopes to obtain; and to what extent it is estimated that this will enable Burma to have some surplus for export.
§ Mr. A. HendersonThe Government of Burma have given most careful consideration to the question of the price to be offered to cultivators and have promised a market at a fair price for all rice that can be grown. They are satisfied that this policy will encourage the largest possible production of rice this year. It is hoped this year to obtain an acreage of eight and a half million acres, an increase of two million acres over the last crop, which might, given reasonable conditions, produce an exportable surplus of approximately one million tons of rice. The hon. Member will, of course, realise that the attainment of this figure depends on a number of factors which cannot as yet be fully gauged not least of which is the weather.