The fertility of the province of Arracan is very great, its soil being fit for the culture of nearly all tropical productions; rice, however, is alone cultivated to any great extent; the low alluvial soil which extends over the whole country, from the foot of the mountains to the sea, being admirably suited for its growth. About 115 square miles are under culture with rice. The export trade in rice of the district, is seen by the following statistical return; and it gives employment to from 400 to 700 vessels, aggregating 60,000 to 80,000 tons.
| QUANTITY OF PADDY AND RICE EXPORTED FROM AKYAB, THE PORT OF ARRACAN. | |||||
| Maunds of Paddy | Maunds of rice | Total value in Rupees | Average price per 100 baskets of 12 seers, in Rupees | ||
| Rice | Paddy | ||||
| 1831-32 | 380,600 | 28,970 | 130,591 | 15.4 to 16.6 | 8 to 9 |
| 1832-33 | 502,740 | 175,560 | 232,915 | 16 to 17 | 7.5 to 8 |
| 1833-34 | 555,540 | 418,950 | 430,830 | 19 to 20 | 9 to 0 |
| 1834-35 | 127,050 | 260,650 | 176,717 | 18 to 19 | 8 to 9 |
| 1835-36 | 783,870 | 548,460 | 354,791 | 10 to 11 | 5 to 5.8 |
| 1836-37 | 1,737,841 | 641,010 | 666,732 | 10.8 to 12 | 5 to 6 |
| 1837-38 | 1,621,566 | 248,783 | 650,385 | 21 to 23 | 9 to 10.8 |
| 1838-39 | 1,364,100 | 332,380 | 821,168 | 24 to 25.1 | 8.8 to 11.12 |
| 1839-40 | 2,033,698 | 529,961 | 1,121,311 | 21.8 to 23 | 9.8 to 10 |
| 1840-41 | 2,212,068 | 446,941 | 1,131,087 | 20 to 21.8 | 10 to 11 |
| 1841-42 | 1,265,388 | 270,000 | 553,014 | 19 to 20 | 8 to 9 |
| 1842-43 | 1,310,900 | 393,900 | 472,889 | 14 to 15 | 7.8 to 8 |
| 1843-44 | 848,922 | 707,780 | 633,710 | 17 to 18 | 7 to 8 |
| (" Colonial Magazine," vol. vi., p. 348.) | |||||
| EXPORT OF RICE FROM MOULMEIN | ||
| Baskets | Value | |
| 1840 | 67,318 | 38,708 |
| 1841 | 11,175 | 6,900 |
| 1842 | 64,055 | 40,034 |
| 1843 | 35,635 | 35,289 |
| 1844 | 71,822 | 44,529 |
| 1845 | 149,815 | 73,034 |
| 1846 | 193,267 | 101,465 |
| —(Simmonds's "Colonial Magazine," vol. xii., p. 462.) | ||
From Tavoy and Mergui rice was also exported, equal in value to 41,000 rupees, in 1846; 100 baskets of 12 seers each, are equal to 30 Bengal maunds. The basket of rice named above, is equal to 55½ lbs. English.
Paddy means rice in the husk—rice, the grain when unhusked—a distinction to be kept in mind.
The daily average consumption of rice in a family of five, is rated in the Straits' settlements at three and a quarter chupahs.
The Burmese and Siamese are the grossest consumers of rice. A common laboring Malay requires monthly 30 chupahs, or 56 pounds of rice, value 3s. 9d. or 4s. The Burmese and Siamese about 34 chupahs, or 64 pounds. Rice land in Penang yields a return which cannot be averaged higher than seventy-five fold—or nearly thirty guntangs of paddy for each orlong (1⅓ acres); but it has been considered advisable to rate it here at sixty fold only.
The rice land of Province Wellesley gives an average return of 117½ fold; the maximum degree of productiveness being 600 guntangs of paddy to an orlong of well flooded, alluvial land, or 150 fold, equal to 300 guntangs of clean rice, weighing nearly 4,520 English pounds. The present average produce has been very moderately estimated at 470 guntangs the orlong of paddy. The quantity of seed invariably allotted for an orlong of land is four guntangs. In Siam forty fold is estimated a good average produce. At Tavoy, on the Tenasserim coast, the maximum rate of productiveness of the rice land was, in 1825, and is still believed to be, nearly the same as the average of Siam; while their average was only twenty-fold.—(Low, on "Straits Settlements.")
Rice in Cochin-China is the "staff of life," and forms the main article of culture. There are six different sorts grown; two on the uplands, used for confectionery, and yielding only one crop annually; the other sorts affording from two to five crops a year; but generally two, one in April and another in October; or three when the inundations have been profuse.