question_answer

Why were Indian cultivators unwilling to grow opium?

Answer:

(i) The crop had to be grown on the best land, on fields that lay near villages and were well manured. On this land, villagers usually produced pulses. If they planted opium on this land, pulses could not be grown there.

(ii) Many cultivators owned no land. To cultivate, they had to pay rent to the landlord for the lease land. And the rent charged on good land near the villages were very high.

(iii) The cultivation of opium was a difficult process. The plant was delicate and the cultivators had to spend long hours nurturing it.

(iv) The price government paid to the cultivators for opium was very low. It was unprofitable for cultivators to grow opium at that price.