IRRIGATION AT RAKAIA

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28013, 6 July 1956, Page 8

IRRIGATION AT RAKAIA

PROPOSED SCHEME DISCUSSED

ECONOMIC ASPECTS j EXPLAINED

The big increase in farm produc- : tion that would be required in the South Island during the next 25 years would have to come mainly from light land, and with irrigation this land could more than double its produc-; tion of fat lamb meat and wool, said Mr R. C. Stuart, an economist of the! Department of Agriculture, when he addressed a gathering of farmers at Chertsey on the economic aspects of the proposed Rakaia irrigation scheme. The cost of the scheme, which would cover an area of 120,000 acres to the north-east of the- Ashburton borough, has been estimated at £3,300.000 or £27 10s an acre. Under a policy submitted to the irrigation committee by the Minister of Works (Mr W. S. Goosman) the farmers would be required to pay a quarter of the capital cost and full operation and maintenance charges. Allowing for a 10-year development period during which the water charge would be progressivly increased, the ultimate annual cost to the farmer was likely to be about 18s 6d an acre. With the £3 for £1 Government subsidy farmers would not be greatly affected financially if the scheme were brought into operation, said Mr S’uart. But the farmer would have to find the capital necessary to convert his property into an irrigation farm. What he had to consider was the cost, what the scheme involved, and whether it would be worth while.

Mr Stuart said that the department realised that what applied to a 300-501- 1 acre farm did not necessarily apply to a farm of 1000 acres. The policy submitted by the Government was based on fact and tied in with research carried out at Winchmore Irrigation Research station, compared with dry land farming in the district of above the average standard. Production Doubled A production summary for 300-500-acre sheep farms during an average year showed that the sheep-carrying capacity of an irrigated farm was 3.75 art acre, compared with 2.5 an acre for a dry land farm. On the irrigated farm, wool and fat lamb meat production were more than doubled. In a production summary for an average 800-acre farm Mr Stuart showed that, with irrigation, the sheep-carrying capacity, and therefore the wool and fat lamb production, were again double that of a dry land farm. An increase in payments of about £3 an acre for an irrigated farm was off-set by an increase of £7 an acre in receipts and gave a surplus of £6 an acre, compared with £2.5 an acre for a dry land farm. Irrigation could assist in the economic subdivision of a farm for a farmer who had two or three sons whom he wished to settle in their own holdings. As a selling proposition the value of a subdivided farm that had irrigation would depend on the demand for land and the capital resources available at the time and he could not make any valid predictions, Mr Stewart said.

Another important factor was capital expenditure, said Mr Stuart. On an average dry land farm this worked out at £26 an acre, which included fencing, grassing, and buildings; on an improved dry land farm it amounted to £3B an acre, and on an irrigated farm the cost would be £45 an acre.

Mr Stuart said that in the first' few years the farmers would not be irrigating to the full extent so that the initial costs would not be so high. Successors to Benefit The scheme would take about 17 years to become fully developed and the farmer introducing irrigation on his property woyld not gain as much advantage from it as his successors. Consequently the possibility of the policy proposed being adopted by the farmers depended to a large extent on their public spiritedness. If the scheme was dropped at this stage it would probably be put back another 30 or 40 years, Mr Stuart said. It was suspected that much of New Zealand's prosperity came from inflated prices overseas. If prices dropped sharply it could lead to a slump in this country. The population of the Dominion would probably be about 3,000.000 by 1975 and so greatly increased primary production would be needed, he said. The chairman of the Rakaia Irrigation Committee (Mr R. J. E. Buckingham) appealed to the farmers to give the scheme serious consideration. Before they voted on the proposed scheme the committee wanted the farmers to have a fair idea of what was involved and did not want to push something on to them. He was against getting signatures for the petition betore farmers knew more about the costs of the scheme. Mr Buckingham said that there were items in the policy of which the committee did not approve and at a recent meeting alternative proposals were submitted and would be passed on to the Minister through Mr R. G. Gerard, M.P. A suggestion made by Mr Buckingham that Mr Stuart and his staff should visit farmers on their properties to discuss individual problems concerning the cost of the scheme was adopted. Other speakers at the meeting were Messrs O. D. D. Riddell, irrigation officer of the Ministry of Works, Ashburton. and C. P. Whatman, senior instructor of the Department of Agriculture at Ashburton.