The oldest evidence for Indian agriculture is in north-west Indian subcontinent dates from the Neolithic 8000-6000 BCE, with traces of the cultivation of plants and domestication of crops and animals. India was the largest producer of wheat and grain. Then settled life soon followed with implements and techniques being developed for agriculture. Double monsoons led to two harvests being reaped in one year. Indian products soon reached the world via existing trading networks and foreign crops were introduced to India. Plants and animals—considered essential to their survival by the Indians—came to be worshiped and venerated.
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. Land and water management systems were developed with an aim of providing uniform growth. Despite some stagnation during the later modern era the independent Republic of India was able to develop a comprehensive agricultural programme.Roy (2006)
Early history
Neolithic In the period of the Neolithic Revolution, roughly 8000-4000 BCE,Agarwal, Ankit (2011) Agro pastoralism in India included threshing, planting crops in rows and storing grain in granaries.Possehl (1996) Barley —either of two or of six rows— and wheat cultivation—along with the rearing of cattle, sheep and goat—was visible in Mehrgarh by 8000-6000 BCE.Harris & Gosden, 385Baber, 19
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. Yet, Jean-Francois Jarrige argues for an independent origin of Mehrgarh. Jarrige notes the similarities between Neolithic sites from eastern Mesopotamia and the western Indus valley, which are evidence of a "cultural continuum" between those sites. Nevertheless, Jarrige concludes that Mehrgarh has an earlier local background," and is not a "'backwater' of the Neolithic culture of the Near East."Jean-Francois Jarrige Mehrgarh Neolithic , Paper presented in the International Seminar on the "First Farmers in Global Perspective," Lucknow, India, 18–20 January 2006 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," but also note that "regardless of the complexity of dispersal, NW region appears to be the corridor for entry of these haplogroups into India."
By the 5th millennium BCE agricultural communities became widespread in Kashmir. Zaheer Baber (1996) writes that 'the first evidence of cultivation of cotton had already developed'. Cotton was cultivated by the 5th millennium BCE-4th millennium BCE.Stein, 47 The Indus cotton industry was well developed and some methods used in cotton spinning and fabrication continued to be practiced till the modern Industrialisation of India.Wisseman & Williams, 127
A variety of tropical fruits such as mango and melon are native to the Indian subcontinent.agriculture, history of. Encyclopædia Britannica 2008. The Indians also domesticated hemp, which they used for a number of applications including making narcotics, fiber, and oil.Kerbs & Kerbs, 4-5 The farmers of the Indus Valley, which thrived in modern-day Pakistan and North India, grew peas, sesame, and dates. Sugarcane was originally from tropical South Asia and Southeast Asia. Different species likely originated in different locations with S. barberi originating in India and S. edule and S. officinarum coming from New Guinea.Sharpe (1998)
Wild rice cultivation appeared in the Belan and Ganges valley regions of northern India as early as 4530 BCE and 5440 BCE respectively. Rice was cultivated in the Indus Valley civilisation.Kahn, 92 Agricultural activity during the second millennium BC included rice cultivation in the Kashmir and Harrappan regions.Smith (2000) Mixed farming was the basis of the Indus valley economy. Denis J. Murphy (2007) details the spread of cultivated rice from India into South-east Asia:Murphy, 178
Indus Valley Civilization Irrigation was developed in the Indus Valley civilisation by around 4500 BCE. 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.Rodda & Ubertini, 279 Sophisticated irrigation and water storage systems were developed by the Indus Valley Civilisation, including artificial reservoirs at Girnar dated to 3000 BCE, and an early canal irrigation system from circa 2600 BCE.Rodda & Ubertini, 161 Archaeological evidence of an animal-drawn plough dates back to 2500 BC in the Indus Valley Civilisation.Lal (2001)
Outside the Indus Valley area of influence there are 2 regions with distinct agricultures dating back to around 2800-1500 BCE. These are the Deccan Plateau and an area within the modern states of Orissa and Bihar. Within the Deccan the ashmound tradition developed c.2800 BCE. This is characterised by large mounds of burned cattle dung and other materials. 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. They also herded cattle, sheep and goat and were largely engaged in pastoralism (Fuller 2006, 'Dung mounds and Domesticators'). 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.
Iron Age India (1500 BCE – 200 CE)
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.Gupta, 58 One effect of this excessive moisture would have been to aid the winter monsoon rainfall required for winter crops. In India, both wheat and barley are held to be Rabi (winter) crops and—like other parts of the world—would have largely depended on winter monsoons before the irrigation became widespread. The growth of the Kharif crops would have probably suffered as a result of excessive moisture. Jute was first cultivated in India, where it was used to make ropes and cordage.jute, Encyclopædia Britannica (2008). Some animals—thought by the Indians as being vital to their survival—came to be worshiped.Gupta, 57 Trees were also domesticated, worshiped, and venerated—Pipal and Banyan in particular. Others came to be known for their medicinal uses and found mention in the holistic medical system Ayurveda. The History of Agriculture by Britannica Educational Publishing holds that:
The Mauryan Empire (322–185 BCE) categorised soils and made meteorological observations for agricultural use.Other sources reveal that the soils and seasons had been classified and meteorological observations of rainfall charted for the different regions of the Mauryan Empire, which comprised nearly the whole subcontinent and territory to the northwest.—agriculture, history of, Encyclopædia Britannica 2008. Other Mauryan facilitation included construction and maintenance of dams, and provision of horse-drawn chariots—quicker than traditional bullock carts. The Greek diplomat Megasthenes (c. 300 BC)—in his book Indika— provides a secular eyewitness account of Indian agriculture:
Early Common Era – High Middle Ages (200–1200 CE)
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.Venkata Subramanian, 7 Jackfruit, coconut, palm, areca and plantain trees were also known. Systematic ploughing, manuring, weeding, irrigation and crop protection was practiced for sustained agriculture.Pillay, 50-51 Water storage systems were designed during this period. 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.Singh and Yadava, 508
Spice trade involving spices native to India—including cinnamon and black pepper—gained momentum as India started shipping spices to the Mediterranean.Shaffer, 310-311 Roman trade with India followed as detailed by the archaeological record and the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. Chinese sericulture attracted Indian sailors during the early centuries of the common era. Crystallised sugar was discovered by the time of the Guptas (320-550 CE),Shaffer, 311 and the earliest reference of candied sugar come from India.Kieschnick (2003) The process was soon transmitted to China with traveling Buddhist monks. Chinese documents confirm at least two missions to India, initiated in 647 CE, for obtaining technology for sugar-refining.Kieschnick, 258 Each mission returned with results on refining sugar. Indian spice exports find mention in the works of Ibn Khurdadhbeh (850), al-Ghafiqi (1150), Ishak bin Imaran (907) and Al Kalkashandi (fourteenth century).Donkin, 92
Noboru Karashima's research of the agrarian society in South India during the Chola Empire (875–1279) reveals that during the Chola rule land was transferred and collective holding of land by a group of people slowly gave way to individual plots of land, each with their own irrigation system.Karashima 1984, 3-35 is cited by Palat (1995) on page 63. The growth of individual disposition of farming property may have led to a decrease in areas of dry cultivation.Palat, 63 The Cholas also had bureaucrats which oversaw the distribution of water—-particularly the distribution of water by tank-and-channel networks to the drier areas.
Late Middle Ages (1200–1526 CE) The construction of water works and aspects of water technology in Medieval India is described in Arabic and Persian works. The diffusion of Indian and Persian irrigation technologies gave rise to an irrigation systems which brought about economic growth and growth of material culture.Siddiqui (1986) Agricultural 'zones' were broadly divided into those producing rice, wheat or millets. Rice production continued to dominate Gujarat and wheat dominated north and central India.
Sugar mills appeared in India shortly during this era. 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. Geared sugar rolling mills later appeared in Mughal India, using the principle of rollers as well as worm gearing, by the 17th century.Irfan Habib (2011), Economic History of Medieval India, 1200-1500, page 53 , Pearson Education
Early modern Era (1526–1857 CE) Indian agricultural production increased under the Mughal Empire,Karl J. Schmidt (2015), An Atlas and Survey of South Asian History, page 100 , Routledge during which India's population growth accelerated. A variety of crops were grown, including food crops such as wheat, rice, and barley, and non-food cash crops such as cotton, indigo and opium. By the mid-17th century, Indian cultivators begun to extensively grow two new crops from the Americas, maize and tobacco.
Land management was particularly strong during the regime of Akbar the Great (reigned 1556–1605), under whom scholar-bureaucrat Todarmal formulated and implemented elaborated methods for agricultural management on a rational basis.Kumar, 182 Indian crops—such as cotton, sugar, and citric fruits—spread visibly throughout North Africa, Islamic Spain, and the Middle East.Shaffer, 315 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.