Factors
Most cash crop plants are now grown on the other side of the world from where they were first cultivated. The aim of this webpage is to determine why this should be. Is it 'natural'? ie did the seeds or other plants parts spread round the world of their own accord? Was it because they escaped their natural predators/pests? J W Purseglove in Tropical Crops (the 'Bible' on tropical crops and my Professor at Wye College, London University) says:
Clearly there is no one factor. He goes on to list two dozen possible factors including:
Selection of new cultivars more suitable to new climes
Original area may not be most optimum environmentally speaking
Competition from 'weeds' removed when grown in pure stands
Improved methods of husbandry
System of agriculture practised
Cost & availability of labour
Availability of capital & Existence/nearness of markets
War and cutting off existing supplies
Local knowledge
Political stability
Government subsidies
Industrial sponsorship
Advisory/Extension services
Efficient control weeds/pests
Genetic adjustment
Compulsory cultivation
Lucky chance introduction
Ease of mechanisation/harvesting
PP Courteny in Plantation Agriculture shows how many of the changes are due to the transition from peasant to plantation forms of agriculture, and how 'the economic and political situations prevailing in a capitalist world can modify the existing pattern in a relatively short space of time'
I used to debate with Purseglove that he wasn't paying enough attention to the role of labour - just like many other scientists before and after. We tend to think it is all a matter of science. Others seem to think it is magic as to how their food arrives on their table.
Was there more more to do with the role of labour? And if so, why and how? (see my presentation at University of Essex Session 1)