PART VII -Agricultural Education and Improvement and Famme Relief and Rural

• Author: Chamberlam, Austen
• Pages: 110

PART VII - AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION AND IMPRON EMENT AND FAMINE RELIEF AND RURAL CO-OPERATIVE CREDIT

(i) AOGIOCLTuBAL EDUCATION, &c (a ) General It is recommended by the delegation that 80 per cent of the available income of the Indemnity fund be used for ' agncultumal education and improvement,' and that this 30 per cent. should include 5 per cent in aid of famine relief and rural co-operative credit According to the usual estimate, about 80 per cent of the population of China is engaged in agricultural pursuits There is no room for doubt, therefore that any portion of the Indemnity fund which is applied to the more urgent needs of the farmers will be used for the benefit of by far the largest class, as it is generally admitted to be the most deserving, of the people of China.

China is so vast a country, and the agricultural needs of different regions are so various, that, if the money is not to be largely wasted, or spent in merely palliative measures that would be transitory m their effect, it is necessary to formulate some coherent and comprehensive scheme, whereby the available funds may be most economically and most fruitfully used. Several such schemes have been drawn up and presented to the delegation Mr T S Kuo, Co-dean of the College of Agriculture and Forestry of the University of Nanking, prepared a plan of which the following are the salient points 1 Agriculture is a regional industry and an applied science;

hence, local problems must be dealt with not merely on

general plmciples, but with special regard to local conditions For example, impioved seeds produced at Nanking may not suit the olil or climate of Szechuen, and the results of research m Peking ma

hope for saving to ensure against future famine Thus when a famine does occur, the strong abandon their farms and seek a lhvmg elsewhere, lawful or unlawful The weak die of hunger at home Periodically, the northern farmers are overtaken by floods, drought, epidemic and famines ' 5 More farm boys should be given a chance to study agriculture At present most farmers are too poor to have their sons trained Scholarships m the different grades of agricultural schools should be provided for industrious and mtelhgent farmig-class boys 6 The conditions of rural life should be improved, home industries fostered and popular education provided 'The life of the farmer,' as Mr Kuo says, 'deserves attention as much as his crop does ' 7 Research work m pure science should not be neglected, as this will help to solve various agricultural problems (This branch of work will doubtless be undertaken by the proposed research institute (see Part VIII), though research work that has direct reference to agricultural problems must also be earned out, to some extent in the agricultural colleges) Among the concrete schemes that have been put forward tor agricultural development is one which provides for the subsidinmg and equipment of three agricultural colleges, situated m Nanking,

Canton and Peking (or Szechuen) respectively This proposal was advocated by Dr P W Tsou, dean of the Agricultural College of the South-Eastern University, Nanking, and by Dr E L Sun, president of the First Provincial Agricultural School m that city Referring to the three colleges, Dr Teou defines their aims as these 'To render service to the Chinese farmers, to strive for improvement in Chinese agriculture, to find out the ways whereby scientific agriculture may materialse, and finally, to enable the majority of farmers to make use of the new agriculture for their own betterment Such is the sole mission of these agricultural colleges ' In another communicatlon Dr Tsou declares that 'the most urgent need is to tram an adequate number of men who can actually bear the responsibility of solving the agricltural problems of this country,' and he urges that, to meet the situation, 'quahfied students and expenenced workers should be sent abroad for scientific training and m addition agricultural colleges should be establshed m north, central and southern Ohma to devise, direct and vitalise the agricultural programme of the whole country ' The first college, he says, should be organised at Nanking, on account of its central location; the second might be established three years later, and the third two years after the organisation of the second. These intervals of time are suggested because with such delays students will have returned from abroad m sufficient numbers to staff the new institutions. The nucleus of the three colleges would be the

agricultural colleges already existing at Peking, Nanking and Canton Dr E L Sun, referred to above supported this scheme He was particularly interested i that part of the scheme which provides for an agricultural college for central China and proposed that the two agricultural mstltutlons already existing at Nanking (min addition to the Agricultural College of Nanking University) should be combined into one large and well-equipped college The two institutions m question are the College of Agriculture of the National South-Eastern University and the First Provinmal Agricultural School of Klangsu, with its two collegiate departments of forestry and agricultural chemistry One of the Chinese members of the delegation (Dr C C Wang) is of opinion that the money available for agricultural education will be insufficient to supply the needs of three colleges, and therefore strongly recommends the establishment of one vellequipped and well-organsed college at Nanking He considers that its annual appropriation should be not less than ~40 000, and that the college should be placed under the direct control of the Board of Trustees for the Indemnty fund Dr Wang also recommends that about ~18 000, or say ~15,000 a year should be devoted to the upkeep of each of three agricultural experimental stations in Peking, Canton and Chengtu In this way...