School of Agriculture

AGR 102 Agricultural Heritage (1+0)

Ancient Agricultural Practices

and Relevance of heritage to
Present day Agriculture
 Ancient Agricultural Practices

 Agriculture began independently in different parts of

the globe and included a diverse range of taxa.
 At least eleven separate regions of the old and New
World were involved as independent centers of origin.
 Wild grains were collected and eaten from atleast
20,000 BC.
 From around 9500 BC, the eight Neolithic founder
crops-emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas,
lentills, bitter vetch, chick peas and flax-were cultivated
in the Levant.
 Ancient Agricultural Practices

 Rye may have been cultivated earlier but this remains

controversial.
 Rice was domesticated in china by 6200 BC with
earliest known cultivation from 5700 BC, followed by
mung, soy and azuki beans.
 Pigs were domesticated in Mesopotamia around 11,000
BC, followed by sheep between 11,000 BC and 9000 BC.
 Ancient Agricultural Practices

 Cattle were domesticated from the wild aurochs in the

areas of modern Turkey and pakistan around 8500BC.
 Sugarcane and some root vegetables were
domesticated in New Guinea around 7000 BC.
 Sorghum was domesticated in the Sahel region of
Africa by 5000 BC.
 In the Andes of south America , the potato was
domesticated between 8000 BC and 5000 BC, along
with beans, coca, ilamas, alpacas and guinea pigs.
 Ancient Agricultural Practices

 Bananas were cultivated and hybridized in the same

period in papua New Guinea.
 In Mesoamerica, wild teosinte was domesticated to
maize by 4000 BC.

 Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 3600 BC. Camels

were domesticated late, perhaps around 3000 BC.
 Ancient Agricultural Practices
 The bronze Age, from 3300 BC. Witnessed the
intensification of agriculture in civilization such as
Mesopatamian sumer, ancient Egypt, the Indus Valley
Civilization of South Asia, ancient China and ancient
Greece.
 During the Iron Age and era of classical antiquity, the
expansion of ancient Rome, both the Republic and then
the Empire, throughout the ancient Mediterranean and
western Europe built upon existing systems of
agriculture while also establishing the manorial system
that became a bedrock of medieval agriculture.
 Ancient Agricultural Practices
 In the middle Ages, both in the Islamic world and in
Europe, agriculture was transformed with improved
techniques and the diffusion of crop plants, including
the introduction of sugar, rice, cotton and fruit trees
such as the orange to Europe by way of Al-Andalus.
 After the voyages of christopher columbus in 1492, the
columbian exchange brought New World crops such as
maize, potatoes, sweet potatoes and manioc to Europe
and Old world crops such as wheat, barley, rice and
turnips and livestock including horses, cattle, sheep and
goats to the Americas.
 Ancient Agricultural Practices

 Irrigation, crop rotation and fertilizers were introduced

soon after the Neolithic Revolution and developed much
further in the past 200 years, starting with the British
Agricultural Revolution.
 Since 1900, agriculture in the developed nations and to a
lesser extent in the developing world, has seen large
rises in productivity as human labour has been replaced
by mechanization and assisted by synthetic fertilizers,
pesticides and selective breeding.
 Ancient Agricultural Practices

 The Haber-Bosch process allowed the synthesis of

ammonium nitrate fertilizer on an industrial scale,
greatly increasing crop yields.
 Modern agriculture has raised social, political ad
environmental issues including water pollution, biofuels,
genitically modified organisms, tariffs and farm
subsidies.
 In response, organic farming developed in the twentieth
century as an alternative to the use of synthetic
pesticides.
Relevance of Heritage to Present day Agriculture

1. Traditional Agriculture

 Considered ‘backward’ by the proponents of modern

agriculture.
 Dr. John Voelcker, studied Indian agriculture practices
and found them scientific.
 It uses the irrigation through wells.
 Scientific rotation system is adopted (slow and
quick growing crops, deep rooted and shallow
plants, may co-exist).
 The ploughing and tilling retains the moisture of
soil.
 Mixing of soil with clay is done to grow other crops.
 Weeding done by hand.
 Traditional farms are small and farmers depend
upon their own labor.
 Environment friendly.
 2. Modern farming

 Reduces soil fertility.

 Artificial fertilizers used.
 Deep ploughing by tractors results in soil erosion and
loss of porosity.
 Extensive use of pesticides.
 Less biodiversity as farms are monoculture, growing
the same crop and crop variety.
 Exotic and hybrid varieties are grown and indigenous
plant existence is threatened.
 The food is contaminated with the chemicals used to
produce it.
 The supply and trading in agricultural inputs and
produce is in the hands of large players which threatens
the food security and reduces the leverage and
importance of the farmer and the consumer.
 The habitat of the wild plants and wild animals is being
destroyed.
 3. Types of Agricultural Farming

 Shifting cultivation – The plot of land is cultivated

temporarily and abandoned when it loses fertility.
 Subsistence farming – The farmer grows only to feed
his own family.
 Intensive farming - Characterized by high input of
capital, labour, fertilizers and pesticides relative to the
land area. Increases crop production but also damages
the environment.
 Extensive farming - Low input of materials and labour
to preserve the ecological balance so that the land
can be farmed indefinitely.

 Commercial agriculture – Farming intended for sale

and done on a large scale with mechanised
equipment.

 Dryland farming - Agricultural technique for non-

irrigated cultivation of land with little natural rainfall.
 Monoculture - Agricultural practice of growing one crop
over a large area. The processes can be standardized
for greater efficiency. Result in surplus production of
crop and depressed prices.

 Crop rotation - Practice of growing dissimilar crops to

improve soil structure and fertility by alternatively
growing deep rooted and shallow rooted plants.
 4. Factors Affecting Agriculture

 Small and fragmented landholdings.

 Dependence on the monsoon.
 Lack of international competitiveness of its produce.
 Inadequate availability of electricity, fertilizers,
irrigation and pesticides.
 Poor access of the farmers to good roads, market
infrastructure, refrigerated transportation of goods.
 Conversion of agricultural land for residential and other
land use purposes.
 5. Organic Farming

 Organic cultivation is a type of farming that does not

involve usage of chemicals like chemical fertilizers and
pesticides.
 Major shift has been observed in the farming culture,
due to which several farmers have begun practicing
this traditional method of cultivation.
 Organic cultivation is proven as the means to produce
safe foodstuffs and preserve the environment.
 It uses organic fertilizers, which are carbon based and
increase the productivity of plants.
 The farms retain their fertility.
 Organic fertilizers are bio-degradable so do not cause
environmental pollution.
 Nutrients are added after soil testing.
 Organic seeds are used.
 Organic fungicides, pesticides used.
 Organic herbicides and mulching used to control the
weeds.
 6. Agricultural Achievements

 Nearly 50 years ago, a panel of experts in the

agriculture field met in Italy (called the club of Rome)
and predicted massive food shortages and death due
to hunger.
 In India their predictions were supported by the data
which indicated that after 1947 (since Independence)
the agriculture output fell a way short of the demand
for food. Indian resilience proved them wrong.
 To-day, India is the largest product of milk (128 million

tonnes) second largest producer of rice (over million

metric tonnes), wheat over 90 million tonnes, sugar 25

million tonnes, cotton 34 million bales and fruits and

vegetables, over 200 million metric tonnes.

 Besides, it is a significant producer of a variety of

spices, plantation crops, poultry and fishery products.

 How did all this come about?
 The government support was there but not enough.
Green Revolution, a process which improved the food
production significantly and developed with the
support of the Indian Scientists likes of the caliber of
Dr.M.S.Swaminathan and Dr. Kurien played a very big
role in achieving this near self sufficiency.
 Currently agriculture accounts for 15 per cent of
India’s GDP, employs about 55 per cent of the work
force and contributes to around 10 per cent of exports.
 Unfortunately, once we reached a certain level of

output our government had become complacent.

 Funding all activities of agriculture like the subsidies

have become a political issue. It is myopic and hurting.

 Our last year agriculture growth is less than 2 per cent.

The question to debate is not what has gone wrong,

whats need to be done to make our country free of

poverty and hunger.

 Several challenges exist like land constraints, water

shortage, climate change, low productivity.

 To handle this, we need to encourage the research and

development in agriculture in a big way .

 If Israel can use their scanty rain filled desert land to

produce oranges and tomatoes, why can’t we do it?

Yes, we can if we put our minds to it.

 India ranks second highest worldwide in farm output.

 India is the largest producer of tea, mangoes,

sugarcane, banana, turmeric, milk, coconut, pulses,

ginger, cashew nuts and blackpepper.

 India is the second highest producer of wheat, rice,

sugar, vegetables, fruits and groundnut and cotton.

 India accounts for 10 per cent of world’s fruit

production.
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