Growth of Commercial Crops


 
 
Concept Explanation
 

Growth of Commercial Crops

Growth of Commercial Crops: With strong footholds in South India, Bengal, Bihar and Odisha (the then Orissa), the East India Company wanted to collect maximum taxes to meet their military and administrative expenses.

They also wanted to gain maximum profit. So, the company started using coercive methods to procure goods which were in great demand in Europe. The agricultural raw material was purchased very low rates and sent to England. The finished goods were brought back to India and sold high prices to earn more profits. The Company forced the farmers to grow crops like indigo, cotton, raw silk, opium, pepper, tea, sugarcane, etc.

Indigo, called neel in Hindi, was in great demand in the textile industries of Britain. The peasants, were forced to cultivate indigo plants to extract blue dye. The rising demand of sugar in the west, attracted many Europeans to set up sugar plantations in India. The farmers who produced gur (jaggery) for local requirement, were now forced to produce thickened sugarcane juice for the sugar factories and sell their produce at very low price.

 
 


Students / Parents Reviews [10]