There’s a reason why India boasts such a massive population. As is the case with China, this civilization emerged on some of the world’s most fertile farming lands.
Massive river systems nourishing thick layers of healthy soils enabled farming on the Indian Subcontinent as far back as at least 8,000 BCE and probably even earlier. Indians have been domesticating crops and animals since humanity emerged from the Stone Age. Some of the world’s first true urban settlements emerged around farms in the Indus River Valley by around 3,300 BCE. These cities were fed by an even wider variety of crops as Indian agriculture became more sophisticated. Indian farmers would go on to improve their techniques and grow more food to feed a swelling population right up until British colonial rule took hold from the 19th Century until independence.
Today, India’s farmers are back. They are increasingly sophisticated and growing more food than ever thanks to diversification, science, and innovation. There are several very serious and looming threats to Indian agriculture, but Grow Further is confident that India’s scientists and farmers will find solutions that could change the entire world.
Great civilizations rise and fall and full and empty stomachs. The story of India and its agricultural systems is one of invention, abundance, hunger, and then revolution and hope. Understanding India’s farm history could help us to navigate its food security future. As one author recently put it, “India’s history, culture, and legacy are based on agriculture.”
A cradle of civilizations
Groups of hunter-gatherers may have begun experimenting with plant domestication and agriculture in India as far back as 10,000 BCE or earlier, according to historians. It would take thousands of years, but eventually, these groups transitioned to relying predominantly on farming for food and survival. Eventually, the Indus Valley Civilization emerged, and with more people gathering in some of the world’s first cities came more ideas being exchanged, including ideas about best farming practices. Sophisticated farming methods emerged, including the construction of canals and irrigation systems.
The original Indus Valley Civilization faded away by around 1900 BCE, but Indian farming and food culture continued to evolve. During the Vedic era, which lasted until about 500 BCE, settled agriculture emerged from a semi-nomadic lifestyle and around it developed a rich culture.
By the Vedic period, India’s farmers had a strong grasp of the importance of soil fertility, both how to protect and enhance it. Farmers in this era developed a form of holistic, spiritual organic farming. As described by one group of experts, “Vedic Farming emphasizes the importance of maintaining healthy soil,” in that “it promotes using natural fertilizers, such as cow dung and compost, and crop rotation to improve soil health and fertility.” Farm yields expanded, and India’s population expanded in turn as more mouths could be fed. The food grown was also more nutritious, feeding a healthier population. Irrigation practices were carried over from the Indus Valley Civilization period and improved upon.
Over time, iron farm tools were introduced and farmers got even better at what they did. Rice cultivation expanded during India’s transition from the Vedic era to the founding of Buddhism and into the dawn of the Medieval period. Indian agricultural practices from these times were vividly recorded in ancient literature, such as The Vaisyavarga, texts that remain with us today.
Agriculture remained firmly at the center of Indian civilization from the Vedic period well into Medieval times. Population growth may have led to a shift from farming on communal lands to individual plots owned and controlled by families. Indian agriculture diversified even further, but millets became especially important in Indian diets. The various spices that Indian cuisine is famous for were also cultivated in great abundance during this time.
India’s population boomed and farms’ output largely kept up. Poverty-induced hunger existed but it was not widespread; by and large, India’s farms kept the population adequately fed up until the arrival of the British.
“India’s history, culture, and legacy are based on agriculture.”
Colonial decline
British colonial rule was characterized by exploitation.
Populations under the United Kingdom’s colonial rule were put to work in service of the center of the empire, and the colonies were seen mainly as a means of extracting wealth and accumulating power. British rule over India also coincided with the Industrial Revolution. To keep up with the empire’s needs and its competition with other European centers of power, the British very deliberately moved India’s farms away from food crops like millets, wheat, rice, and coconut toward the mass production of cash crops such as cotton, tobacco, and indigo plants used to make dyes. Food was grown mainly for export revenues; the population’s needs were considered a lesser priority.
Cash crops were grown and exported and the majority of the profits landed in British hands. London’s legacy on the Subcontinent became widespread poverty and hunger as food shortages took hold. As Chase Academy explains, “The British colonial administration did not prioritize investments in rural infrastructure, agricultural research, or rural development. This lack of support hindered agricultural productivity and modernization.” Millet cultivation also declined, even though millets are in many ways nutritionally superior to other staples.
Industrial infrastructure like railroads and modern ports were introduced, but London put almost no effort into improving agriculture in India. This situation lasted right up until India achieved its independence in 1947.
British colonial rule over India is remembered by historians as a time of stagnation and decline in India’s agricultural systems resulting in hunger. However, the colonial rules did introduce land reforms and systems of affirming land tenure that were kept in place post-independence.
Freedom to farm
Independent India turned its attention back to farming and food.
Over time, cash crop fields were converted back to rice, wheat, and other important food crops. Food production increased and hunger eased, yet population growth meant it was difficult for India’s farmers to keep up with the rising demand. India became dependent on imports and its government grew increasingly concerned. Luckily, improved seed varieties that Norman Borlaug first developed in Mexico found a welcome home in India.
The Green Revolution arrived, but it was driven mainly by industrialized farming practices. As Swapnali Baruah writes in the Journal of Information Systems Engineering, “this program focused on using chemical pesticides and fertilizers, as well as developing and implementing high-yielding rice and wheat varieties.” Colonial Britain brought parts of the Industrial Revolution to India’s cities and towns, but not to the farms. India’s leaders sought to correct this by introducing farming practices now commonplace in the West. This means not only relying on constantly improving disease-resistant and higher-yielding crop varieties but also industrially manufactured nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides. Farming machines like tractors were introduced. India’s government also expanded irrigation, in particular groundwater extraction for farming.
It worked—famine was adverted, and India swung from being a hungry nation reliant on food imports to a net exporter of foods. Today, India is the world’s top producer of several popular foods. It’s also home to some of the world’s top agricultural research institutes. However, the industrialization and intensification of Indian agriculture came at a cost. “It has caused a rapid decline in the groundwater table, soil degradation, and severe air pollution,” said Baruah.
A sustainable revolution?
Today, Indian agricultural scientists and government officials recognize the growing problems of water table depletion and soil degradation. Nevertheless, India’s population continues to grow. The global popularity of Indian cuisine has also boosted exports, pressuring India’s farmers to grow more food and spices.
Solutions will have to be tailored to India’s unique needs.
India is a massive, increasingly sophisticated power with an economy now larger than Japan’s by some estimates. Yet agriculture still employs a large share of the population and farming there is mainly done by smallholder farmers. Rural poverty is still widespread.
Progress is being made.
The government is busy promoting the cultivation of millet in a sign of India’s return to its roots. Farmers are incorporating organic farming practices that echo Vedic traditions. Agricultural research centers are experimenting with drought-resistant seed varieties and other ways to make farming in India more climate-resilient. India is exploring other innovations in agriculture that could result in profound changes and major improvements in food security everywhere.
Grow Further is excited and eager to join India on its journey. With the help of our donor-members, we’re confident that we can help Indian ag innovators develop solutions to the problems that farmers there now face. India is enormous, and so is its potential.
— Grow Further