Q.Explain the process of commercialisation of agriculture during colonial rule and its effects on Indian farmers.

Commercialisation of agriculture describes a shift in what farmers grew and why, driven by colonial economic needs rather than farmer welfare. …

Commercialisation of agriculture refers to a shift in the purpose of cultivation, away from growing food crops mainly to meet a farmer's own household and local market needs, toward growing crops mainly intended for sale, particularly cash crops meant for export. During British colonial rule, this process was strongly encouraged, since crops such as indigo, cotton and jute were needed as raw material inputs for British industry.

The process worked through a combination of colonial policy pressure and market incentives: colonial administrators and, in some cases (such as indigo cultivation), coercive arrangements pushed cultivators toward these cash crops, and export demand from Britain created a market pull in the same direction.

While commercialisation of agriculture is sometimes viewed positively elsewhere as a step toward a more market-oriented and modernising agricultural sector, under colonial conditions its effects on Indian farmers were largely negative. First, land that could have grown food crops was diverted to cash crops, which could reduce local food availability and food security. Second, farmers growing cash crops were exposed to price fluctuations in markets they had no control over, and in many cases the buyers of these crops (traders, or the colonial administration itself) were able to set unfavourable terms. Third, the additional income generated by cash-crop cultivation, where it existed, rarely reached the cultivators who bore the risks of growing the crop; it was more often captured by intermediaries, traders and the colonial economic system a …

A common mistake is describing commercialisation of agriculture as a purely positive or neutral development (as it might be discussed in a general economics context) without noting …