CIESIN Reproduced, with permission, from: Reijntjes, C., B. Haverkort, and A. Waters-Bayer. 1992. Farming for the future: An introduction to low-external input and sustainable agriculture. London: Macmillan.


Box 3.2 Consultant admires Indian agriculture in 1889

In 1889, Dr J.A. Voelcker, Consulting Chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England, was sent by the British government to study Indian agriculture Voelcker toured the country extensively for over a year. In his report published in 1893 he stated: '' . nowhere would one find better instances of keeping land scrupulously clean from weeds, of ingenuity in device of water-raising appliances, of knowledge of soils and their capabilities as well as of the exact time to sow and to reap, as one would in Indian agriculture . . . It is wonderful, too, how much is known of rotation/ the system of mixed crops and of fallowing. Certain It is that I, at least, have never seen a more perfect picture of careful cultivation, combined with hard labour, perseverence and fertility of resources, than I have seen at many of the halting places on my tour'' (Dogra 1983) .