EROSION & NUTRITION

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 July 1938, Page 5

EROSION & NUTRITION

PROBLEMS IN COLONIAL EMPIRE LATE AWAKENING TO VITAL FACTS CONFERENCE IN LONDON (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, July 25. Soil erosion and nutrition are two of the most important subjects to be discussed at the conference of Colonial Directors of Agriculture, which opened in London today, with representatives from all parts of the Colonial Empire. Lord Dufferin and Ava, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Colonies, in his presidential address, expressed the hope that conjoint consideration of these two subjects by officers of the agricultural, veterinary and forestry departments would be fruitful. He declared that in recent years it had been generally realised throughout the Colonial Empire that in the planning and execution of programmes of social and economic development cooperation and collaboration between the departments of agriculture, veterinary services, forestry, health, education and administrative officers was essential and, from the Colonial Office, efforts had been made whenever possible to stress the importance of this collaboration in all matters concerned with rural development. Speaking on the dangers of soil erosion, Lord Dufferin said that it was only during the past few years that the importance of soil conservation had been fully realised, largely as a result of accounts of the position in the United States. A similar state of affairs, however, had been developing in many British colonial dependencies, especially East Africa, where faulty distribution of stock was assuming serious proportions. The position in regard to soil erosion in the Colonial Empire had been reviewed in a memorandum sent to all the dependencies, and the Colonial Secretary had asked for an annual report on the subject from each dependency with a summary of progress made in anti-erosion measures. It was expected in the discussions of the conference that the importance of mixed farming, whereby animal husbandry was introduced into the scheme of crop production, would be recognised. The Under-Secretary, said that increasing attention must be given by departments of agriculture to the production of greater amounts and greater variety of local foodstuffs, and in this connection nutritional requirements must not be overlooked.