Irrigation and imperialism: The causes and consequences of a shift from subsistence to cash cropping

Dependency theorists and others have suggested that villagers in British India were compelled to grow cash crops under canal irrigation and this made them more vulnerable to famines. Evidence on cropping patterns in western India c. 1900 shows that cultivators had good technical reasons for not irrigating subsistence crops. In response to fiscal pressures and cultivators’ choices, the government turned from a policy favouring subsistence crop irrigation to one favouring sugarcane. Paradoxically, this new policy also stimulated foodgrain production, providing greater subsistence security for the region.