Report to the ... Zionist Congress and to the Council of the Jewish Agency in ... · 1935-08-01 · 8.1935 · p. Seite 311

C—REPORT OF THE AGRICULTURAL SETTLEMENT DEPARTMENT. Introductory Note. This report is divided into two parts : I. —The general position of agriculture in the country and the work of the Department during the period under review; II. —The Zionist achievements in the field of agriculture. Part I. I —General Position (1933/4—1934/5). 1. The results of the crops of 1934 were particularly favourable in the settlements of the Kishon area and of the western part of the Valley of Esdraelon. On the other hand, the results in the eastern part of the Valley of Esdraelon and in the Jordan Valley were very meagre. The 1935 season, however, is expected to yield very satisfactory results throughout the country. The prices of the crops are normal and the settlers have prospects of reaping considerable profits. 2. The yields of the vineyards and fruit trees were good in 1934, particularly in the irrigated plantations. Market prices ruled high, and there are good prospects of selling fruits and grapes in the present season also at favourable prices. There is a widespread tendency to set up intensive settlements on small areas. 3. The position was quite favourable in the citrus plantations in the season 1933-1934. The yield was good. About 5,500,000 cases of citrus fruits were exported—5,000,000 orange cases and 500,000 cases of lemons and grapefruit. The prices at the beginning of the season were low, but rose at the close of the season, and the average price per box of oranges on the tree was 5s. 6d. The results of the season 1934-1935 were not as favourable. 7,250,100 boxes of citrus fruit were exported. The heavy rains during the picking season, the bad transport conditions and especially those of the steamship transport, resulted in a part of the fruit reaching the markets in a rotten condition. The average price per box on the tree in this season will amount to 4s. 6d.! The boom in the planting of orange groves, which reigned in 1934 (when about 40,000 dunams of new groves were added)., abated somewhat in 1935. and it is doubtful whether more than 20,000 dunams of new groves will be planted this year. The income prospects of the season 1935-1936 are not very promising. The excessive heat during the spring and the beginning of the summer caused 40 to 50 per cent, of the fruit to fall from the trees. This gives great anxiety to the orange-grove owners, who were accustomed for many years to a regular and apparently 3"