India’s economy under the British colonial rule remained fundamentally agrarian, about 85 percent of the population lived mostly in villages and derived livelihood directly or indirectly from agriculture. Nevertheless, the growth of the agriculture sector was meager. The following are the causes explaining stagnancy in Indian agriculture sector during the colonial rule:
(i) Introduction of Land Revenue System
This was due to prevalence of various systems of Land Settlement, particularly Zamindari system. Lord Cornwallis in Bengal introduced this system in 1793. Under this system, the zamindars(owners of land) were required to pay very high revenue (lagaan) to the British government, which they used to collect from the peasants (landless labourers, who were actually cultivating). The zamindars were mainly concerned with extracting high revenues from the peasants but never took any steps to improve the productivity of the land. This resulted in low agricultural productivity and worsened the peasants economically.
(ii) Forceful Commercialisation
Initially before the British rule, the farmers were practicing conventional subsistence farming. They used to grow crops like rice and wheat for their own consumption. Afterwards, in order to feed British industries with cheap raw materials, the Indian farmers were forced to grow commercial crops (like indigo required by British industries to dye textiles) instead of food crops (like rice and wheat). This led to the commercialisation of Indian agriculture. This commercialisation of Indian agriculture not only increased the burden of high investment costs for the poor farmers but also led India to face shortage of food grains, resources and technology. Therefore, Indian agriculture remained backward and primitive.
(iii) Lack of Irrigation Facilities and Resources
Besides the above factors, Indian agricultural sector also faced lack of irrigation facilities, insignificant use of fertilizers, lack of investment, frequent famines and other natural calamities, etc. that further exaggerated the agricultural performance and made it more vulnerable.
