ed
earthen canals by means of furrows dug with a hoe. The work entails hard
manual labor, and a single worker can handle only about 1.25 to 2.5
acres per day. The timing of the water application and the quantity of
water used are not properly adjusted to the needs of the various crops,
so that the increase in yields is only half as great as that obtained
under optimum conditions, and about half the water is wasted. The
network of irrigation ditches also impedes mechanical cultivation of the
fields. Improper irrigation and drainage techniques have raised the
groundwater level excessively in several districts and have caused
various degrees of soil salinization in areas totaling more than 39,000
acres.

The five-year plan program for new irrigated areas calls for the
construction of stationary sprinkler systems over 25,000 acres; 469,000
acres are to be provided with portable sprinkler systems. Reconstruction
and modernization of existing basic facilities are to be limited to the
lining of canals. The ultimate longer term goal is to establish fully
automated stationary sprinkler systems in most irrigated districts. The
main problems in carrying out the irrigation program, in the view of an
irrigation authority official, are posed by the paucity of investment
funds allotted for this purpose and the contradictory nature of some of
the program's aims. Additional difficulties are presented by the
shortage of irrigation pipes and materials for their fabrication,
inadequate experience in the manufacture of advanced irrigation
equipment, and the lack of facilities for experimentation and testing.

Cropping Pattern

The area of field crops amounted to almost 9 million acres in 1970; it
had declined by 887,000 acres after 1960. The proportions of this
acreage devoted to the major types of crops were: grains, 62.5 percent;
industrial crops, 14.6 percent; feed crops, 18.7 percent; and
vegetables, potatoes, and melons, 4.2 percent. In accord with the
government's policy of intensifying agricultural production, the acreage
of bread grains had steadily declined, so that in 1970 it constituted
somewhat less than half the total grain acreage. The area of feed grains
remained fairly stable; a decline in corn acreage was virtually balanced
by an increase in the acreage of barley. A slight reduction also took
place in the acreage of pulses, but the area under rice expanded by 70
percent.

Whereas the total area of industrial crops ch