Superior agriculture and thrust on food production since ancient times
Food is the basis of life. Mankind requires adequate food for survival and growth. An ideal state is one in which no one suffers for want of food. The first priority of every country is to provide adequate food to all the citizens. The main objective of any economic theory should be to help the societies to plan for providing food to all the people. Unfortunately the “modern” economic theories of the west speak only about markets and competition. Hence we see hunger and poverty on the increase in different parts of the world during the contemporary periods, in spite of the development that has been taking place. So development itself is becoming meaningless to vast sections of people in the world. Modern economic theories and the economists are not able to provide meaningful solutions to reduce poverty and provide food to all.
In this connection, one has to learn from India of the earlier periods when the native systems were in place without the alien influences. Ancient India understood the significance of food much more than any other nation in the world. Mahabharata says: “Food is indeed the preserver of life and food is the source of procreation. When there is no food, the five elements constituting the body cease to be.” Hence the Indian system gave the maximum thrust to production of food in abundance, so that there will be plenty of it available for consumption. Sages and scriptures emphasized the need for growing and producing more and more food. For example, Taittiriya Upanishad said: “Endeavour so that there be a great abundance of food. That is the inviolable discipline of mankind.”
Accordingly agriculture was accorded the primary status in the society. Thiruvalluvar was only echoing this when he said that of all the vocations, agriculture was the most important as the entire world depended on it for their food ( Kural 1031). Hence farmers were given high respect as they engage in producing food for all the others in the society. Bhisma mentioned in the Mahabharata that the cultivators take up the responsibilities of the kings on their shoulders by providing food to the people in the country.
Kings were advised to create and provide the required facilities to the farmers so that crops were grown and food was produced without difficulties. When Bharatha visited Lord Rama during ‘vanavas’, Rama advised him to ensure that all those engaged in agriculture received special attention and help them conduct their vocation. Hence the states took up the responsibility to create the necessary infrastructure and other facilities. Maintenance of water bodies and construction of tanks were undertaken wherever necessary to store water. Even when rains fail, arrangements were there in place to provide water so that farming activities did not suffer. In the Mahabharata Narada asks Yudhistra to ensure that the cultivators had not exhausted their seeds and were offered loans at the rate of one per cent.
As a result agriculture flourished. Due to the antiquity of India and very long years of experience in farming, Indians gained complete knowledge of agriculture in all its respects. Hence they developed suitable methods to get the maximum results. During the period of British domination, they brought an agricultural chemist J A Voelcker from their country to India to recommend improvements to be made in agriculture. In his report of early 1890s, he stated: “Nowhere one would find better instances of keeping land scrupulously clean from weeds, of ingenuity in device of water-raising appliances, of knowledge of soils and their capabilities, as well as the exact time to sow and reap as one would find in agriculture; and this is not at its best alone, but at its ordinary level. ……. Certain it is that, I at least, have never seen a more perfect picture of careful cultivation combined with hard labour, perseverance, and fertility of resource, than I have seen at many of my halting places in my tour.”
After observing Indian farmers and the farming methods, the British agricultural scientist Albert Howard wrote about hundred years back that he could not do better than watching the operations of the Indian farmers regarding them as his ‘professors.’ While mentioning about the indigenously developed natural farming techniques that were in use in India, he noted that the Indian farmers used organic manures that ensured them to continue farming on the same land for more than two thousand years without any drop in yields.
The farmers treated the lands as the Goddess and nourished and nurtured her without causing any disturbance to her long term health. They adopted superior methods and developed their own techniques needed to increase production. The European officials and experts were astonished to see the way agriculture was conducted in different parts of India. After observing the native agricultural methods personally while serving in India, the English official Major General Alexander Walker was amazed to know the use of Drill Ploughs by the farmers and noted around 1820: “ The Hindoos have been long in possession of one of the most beautiful and useful inventions in agriculture. This is the Drill Plough. This instrument has been in use from the remotest times in India. …. It would be just to adduce this, as another proof of ingenuity of this people and of their successful attention to this branch of labour.”
In this connection the noted Gandhian Dharampal who had studied these aspects in detail underlines that: “The Drill Plough is said to have been used in Europe …. .. in 1662. Its first introduction in England dates to 1730. But it took another 50 years before it was used on any scale. It was used in India …. .from time immemorial. Observations of its use, by the British, however could only begin in the last decades of the eighteenth century, …….. .”
The aim of the farmers was to increase the production and productivity levels through natural and harmless methods. They achieved them with hard work and native techniques. Based on the study of inscriptions, Bajaj and Srinivas estimate that the productivity in Thanjavur area in Tamil Nadu amounted to around 15 to 18 tonnes of paddy per hectare, from 900 CE to 1200. In the southern part of Ramanathapuram in the state, the production was 20 tonnes of paddy per hectare in 1325 CE. The British observers and their administrative records show high levels of productivity in different parts of the country even till the early nineteenth century. For example, it was reported in 1803 that the productivity of wheat was about 7.5 tonnes per hectare in the regions around Allahabad.
It is significant to know that the ultimate objective of all these efforts was to provide food to all living beings at all times. About two thousand years back, the Greek historian Diodorous Siculus noted: “ It is …. confirmed that famine has never visited India, and that there has never been a general scarcity in the supply of nourishing food.” Making food available to all is indeed the noblest of all objectives of a society and India remained committed to it since the earliest times, till the Britishers intervened with the native arrangements and began destroying them. This is the reason why a large percentage of the humanity has been living here happily since the earliest times.
References:
Bajaj J.K. and Srinivas, M.D., Annam Bahu Kurvita, Centre for Policy Studies, Madras, 1996.
Bajaj J.K. and Srinivas, M.D., Restoring the Abundance: Regeneration of Indian Agriculutre to Ensure Food for All in Plenty, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla, 2001.
Dharampal, Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century, Other India Press, Goa, 2000.
Winin Pereira, Tending the Earth – Traditional and Sustainable Agriculture in India, Earthcare Books, Bombay, 1993.
( Yuva Bharati – Voice of Youth, Vivekananda Kendra, June 2010 )
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