Page 61

40 improvement and successful demonstration of the use of long-handled hoe. As a result cotton production which before 1950 rarely exceeded 10,000 tons a year, in 1955 reached 47,270 tons, and is expected to reach 60,000 tons in the near future. The increase in the production is due to the two-fold encouragement this branch of agriculture has received at the hands of the State. First, direct assistance was rendered by the Government. Taqavi or farm loans were given to the peasants free of interest. Agricultural schools and experimental stations were established. Improved varieties of cotton-seeds were supplied. Several irrigation projects were undertaken and these proved of inestimable value for the increase in cotton production. Finally in 1954 a new Cotton Export Corporation, sponsored by the Government, undertook to spread modern cultivation methods, and to improve seeds and quality of the lint. Secondly, the state accorded indirect assistance by the protection of cotton-ginning and weaving industries within the country. A large portion of this cotton is consumed locally by the textile-mills and hand-looms, and the surplus is exported. The cotton grown in the Central Plateau is of low quality, being of very short staple. On the whole, Afghan cotton is much superior in quality to the cotton grown in the adjacent countries and has, therefore, a ready market abroad. Beet-root is cultivated extensively around Baghlan and is made into sugar at the same place. Sugar-beet harvested in 1953 totalled 23,000 tons, but in the opinion of Edwin P. Pathison, sugar-beet expert of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization in Afghanistan, better cultivation and better seed strains are expected to result in a yield of 56,000 to 60,000 tons in the coming years.