History of agriculture in the Indian subcontinent
[7] The Middle Ages saw irrigation channels reach a new level of sophistication in India and Indian crops affecting the economies of other regions of the world.
[10][citation needed] In the period of the Neolithic Revolution, roughly 8000-4000 BCE,[11] Agro pastoralism in India included threshing, planting crops in rows and storing grain in granaries.
[3][13] According to Gangal et al. (2014), there is strong archeological and geographical evidence that neolithic farming spread from the Near East into north-west India.
"[30] Singh et al. (2016) investigated the distribution of J2a-M410 and J2b-M102 in South Asia, which "suggested a complex scenario that cannot be explained by a single wave of agricultural expansion from Near East to South Asia,"[15] but also note that "regardless of the complexity of dispersal, NW region appears to be the corridor for entry of these haplogroups into India.
[33] The farmers of the Indus Valley, which thrived in modern-day Pakistan and North India, grew peas, sesame, and dates.
[38] The size and prosperity of the Indus civilisation grew as a result of this innovation, which eventually led to more planned settlements making use of drainage and sewers.
The people of the ashmound tradition grew millets and pulses, some of which were domesticated in this part of India, for example, Brachiaria ramosa, Setaria verticillata, Vigna radiata and Macrotyloma uniflorum.
In the east of India Neolithic people grew rice and pulses, as well as keeping cattle, sheep and goat.
By 1500 BCE a distinct agriculture focused on summer crops, including Vigna and Panicum milliaceum was developed.
Gupta (2004) finds it likely that summer monsoons may have been longer and may have contained moisture in excess than required for normal food production.
Cow dung provided fertilizer, and irrigation was practiced...The Mauryan Empire (322–185 BCE) categorised soils and made meteorological observations for agricultural use.
[43] Other Mauryan facilitation included construction and maintenance of dams, and provision of horse-drawn chariots—quicker than traditional bullock carts.
[5] The Greek diplomat Megasthenes (c. 300 BC)—in his book Indika— provides a secular eyewitness account of Indian agriculture:[5] India has many huge mountains which abound in fruit-trees of every kind, and many vast plains of great fertility.
the inhabitants of India almost always gather in two harvests annually.The Tamil people cultivated a wide range of crops such as rice, sugarcane, millets, pepper, various cereal grains, coconuts, beans, cotton, plantain, tamarind and sandalwood.
[1] Kallanai (1st-2nd century CE), a dam built on river Kaveri during this period, is considered to be one of the oldest water-regulation structures in the world still in use.
[48] Indian spice exports find mention in the works of Ibn Khurdadhbeh (850), al-Ghafiqi (1150), Ishak bin Imaran (907) and Al Kalkashandi (fourteenth century).
Evidence for the use of a draw bar for sugar-milling appears at Delhi in 1540, but may date back earlier, and was mainly used in the northern Indian subcontinent.
[55] Though they may have been in cultivation prior to the solidification of Islam in India, their production was further improved as a result of this recent wave, which led to far-reaching economic outcomes for the regions involved.
[61] Indian farmers were also quick to adapt to profitable new crops, such as maize and tobacco from the New World being rapidly adopted and widely cultivated across Mughal India between 1600 and 1650.
Bengali farmers rapidly learned techniques of mulberry cultivation and sericulture, establishing Bengal Subah as a major silk-producing region of the world.
The quality of mango and citrus fruits was greatly improved.According to evidence cited by the economic historians Immanuel Wallerstein, Irfan Habib, Percival Spear, and Ashok Desai, per-capita agricultural output and standards of consumption in 17th-century Mughal India was on-par with or higher than in 17th-century Europe and early 20th-century British India.
[64] Few Indian commercial crops—such as Cotton, indigo, opium, wheat, and rice—made it to the global market under the British Raj in India.
[66] Due to extensive irrigation by canal networks Punjab, Narmada valley, and Andhra Pradesh became centres of agrarian reforms.
Bengal had below-average growth rates in both food and nonfood crop output, whereas Punjab and Madras were the least stagnant regions.
A series of articles in The Hindu newspaper in the early 1990s authored by researchers at The Centre for Policy Studies[67] led by Shri Dharampal highlight the impressive production statistics of Indian farmers of that era.
[71][72] Due to the growth and prosperity that followed India's economic reforms a strong middle class emerged as the main consumer of fruits, dairy, fish, meat and vegetables—a marked shift from the earlier staple based consumption.
Various studies identify the important factors as the withdrawal of government support, insufficient or risky credit systems, the difficulty of farming semi-arid regions, poor agricultural income, absence of alternative income opportunities, a downturn in the urban economy which forced non-farmers into farming, and the absence of suitable counseling services.
[78][79][80] Since independence, India has become one of the largest producers of wheat, edible oil, potato, spices, rubber, tea, fishing, fruits, and vegetables in the world.
[84] The green revolution introduced high yielding varieties of crops which also increased the usage of fertilisers and pesticides.
[88] India is the world's largest producer of milk, fruits, cashew nuts, coconuts, ginger, turmeric, banana, sapota, pulses, and black pepper.
