Among all primary activities, agriculture
is the most important. Nearly half of the
world population is still dependent on
it. In developing countries, the proportion of
people dependent on agriculture is over 65 per
cent.
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About 12,000 years ago, the first farmers
selected their crops and animals for
domestication from the existing flora and
fauna, particular to the world�s biomes, and
began the cultivation of plants. Different crops
and animals were domesticated in different
parts of the world, some in more than one place
simultaneously.
Despite all the developments since then,
humans are still dependent basically on the
choices made by people in particular climatic
regions thousands of years ago. Only about
20 crops out of several thousands species of
wild plants are grown the world over as the
major food sources. It is clear from the brief
description below that the initial selections
were influenced by the climate and the natural
vegetation. The distribution of biomes reflects
the distribution of solar radiation, temperature
and rainfall resulting in the spread of
vegetation types from equatorial forest to the
tundra of the sub-Arctic and the high
mountains. This broad climatic framework is
still the main influence on the pattern of
agriculture, though the limits of growing
particular crops have now changed under
human influence.
With the beginning of agriculture, the
nomadic herding gave way to a comparatively
settled life. The most primitive form of
agriculture is known as shifting cultivation,
which still persists in some parts of the world.
It is mainly practiced in the tropical forests.
Trees are cut and burnt to make a clearing in
the forests. Using simplest tools, fields are
prepared for planting crops. After a few years
of crop production, the soils get exhausted.
These fields are then left fallow and new
clearings are made in the forest. This kind of
cultivation is known by different names in
different parts of the world e.g. as Jhuming in
the north-east India, Chengin in Philippines,
Roka in Brazil and Masole in Democratic
Republic of the Congo. Though, shifting
cultivation is also migratory in nature, it
allowed people to stay in a place for a longer
duration.
Subsequently, sedentary agricultural
systems with permanent fields and villages
emerged in areas of favourable climate and
fertile soils. Great civilisations were built on the
foundation of sedentary agriculture in the fertile
river valleys � the Euphrates, the Tigris, the
Nile, the Indus, the Huang He and the Chang
Jiang, about 6,000 years ago. Gradually, the
sedentary system of agriculture spread over
most parts of the world.
The industrial revolution, which took place
in the eighteenth century in Europe, influenced
Asia, Africa and Latin America indirectly. It
boosted agricultural production in Europe and
changed the cropping pattern in the Asian,
African and Latin American colonies. These
colonies specialised in the production of crops
such as cotton, sugarcane, rice, tea, coffee and
rubber, which were processed in the European
factories. As demands for these crops grew in
Europe, the large-scale commercial farming of
some of these crops, commonly known as
plantation agriculture, was started. Large
estates of monocrop were established. They
were managed scientifically with the sole
objective of export or trading for earning
money.
One of the effects of colonisation was
worldwide diffusion and exchange of several
species of plants and animals. For example,
potatoes, a native of the Andes, flourished in
the cool damp environment of the northern
Europe and soon became a world crop.
Similarly, corn (maize) spread across the world
to become the third most widely grown grain
after rice and wheat.
The industrial revolution in Europe
provided more efficient and more specialised
agricultural implements such as plough,
reaper, threshing machines, harvesters,
tractors and milking machines. They changed
the character, scale and geography of
agricultural production. In North America,
mechanisation enabled farmers to expand and
specialise in the production of commodities that
could be sold for the maximum profit. Thus
specialised commercial agricultural systems
emerged there, which gave rise to distinct crop
regions�wheat belt, cotton belt, corn belt,
dairy farming and truck farming (fruits and
vegetables) regions. In other parts of the world
also, similar technological revolutions brought
power driven machines. In addition, adoption
of hybrid seeds, chemical fertilisers and
pesticides increased the yield of crops
dramatically in many areas, though at varying
rates.
Plant dispersal and industrialisation of
agriculture improved agricultural production
profoundly. Large number of people were freed
to pursue other economic activities because
high yields could be achieved with less number
of people and using scientific and technological
innovations. The industrialised countries of the
world, therefore, witnessed a perceptible shift
of population from primary activities to
secondary and tertiary activities in a sequential
manner viewed as a sign of economic
development, though in developing countries
employment structure has moved directly from
primary to tertiary sectors.
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AKHAND PRATAP SINGH
