rice growers often owe considerable sums to machinery suppliers, landlords and millers.
In a rice survey done in British Guiana in 1957 (see Ref.S.b.3, Appendix II) there was much
evidence of under-utilisation of machinery on larger and medium farms, much of which
was being purchased with credit. This led to higher costs of production actually being
found on some mechanised farms than were found on non-mechanised farms.

 Investment in the sugar industry has been greatly assisted by a system of compulsory
saving which takes the form of three tax funds into which it is compulsory for manufactu-
rers to pay a certain amount, which in most territories is J2. 15s. per ton of sugar. Of
this amount, 10 shillings (J1 in St. Kitts) must go to the Sugar Labour Welfare fund and
the remainder to the Price Stabilisation fund and the Sugar Rehabilitation fund.

 Although only the latter fund was intended for capital investment in the industry, the
Price Stabilisation fund has, by agreement, been extensively raided for capital improve-
ments. Each year, something like J1,500,000 accrues to these last two funds in all ter-
ritories and has constituted a useful source of investment capital to supplement private re-
sources of sugar companies. No figures are available, however, to show the total of in-
vestment in sugar.


The size of farms
 The \est Indies is an area which includes both large estates and small farms. The lar-
ger estates, however, which are mainly concerned with the growing of coconuts and sugar,
do not encompass acreages of the extent which might be found in continental areas, or in
territories where the surface of the land is less broken by rugged mountain ranges. As
would be expected, some of the larger areas are those of sugar estates and cattle ranches
in British Guiana; but the vast majority of farms in numerical terms are those which are
occupied by small-scale producers, and are worked by the operator and his family.

 Although a number of factors have been causing changes in the size distribution of farms
it is not easy to identify these or to show the true pattern of change. In Table 4. 5. viii we
show the size distribution of farms by acreages in the Windward Islands, Jamaica, and
Trinidad and Tobago for two periods, and for the Leeward Islands and Barbados for one
period only.

 In the territories for which comparable data are available, it must be noted that the ex-
act definition of small plots and farms below five acres may be different as between the
two periods. It is considered however, that the information relating to large holdings has
a higher degree of accuracy.

 The figures indicate that there has been a reduction in the area of farms of 100 acres
and over in all territories listed except St. Lucia, and in Trinidad and Tobago, where the
increase is negligible. In Jamaica the reduction is greatest and although this may be part-
ly due to some statistical discrepancies it also follows from the fact that a few estates have
been broken down into small holdings, and from the growth of the banana industry, which
is mainly a small farmer's crop. In the intermediate size groups we find again some de-
cline in acreages. It appears that all acreages lost to larger and medium sized holdings
have supplemented acreages of farms below ten acres and small plots. The growth of the
acreage under small plots has been quite significant. However, we feel that differences