Plough agriculture
Also called: Iron ploughshare · Topic: Economy of Early India: Agriculture, Trade, Guilds, Coinage · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns"
Meaning
Plough agriculture means turning the soil with a plough pulled by animals, instead of digging by hand. From c. 6th century BCE, ploughs with an iron-tipped ploughshare (the metal blade that cuts the soil) spread through the fertile river plains of the Ganga and the Kaveri. These areas get a lot of rain. The iron tip could break the heavy, wet soil, so farmers could grow far more grain. This extra grain helped feed early states and new towns. The spread was uneven, though. Some regions kept older methods for many centuries.
Example
Semi-arid parts of Punjab and Rajasthan took up the iron ploughshare only in the 20th century. Farmers in the hilly north-east and parts of central India kept using hoe agriculture (digging with a hand tool), because it suited their land better.
Don't confuse with
- Hoe agriculture: the soil is dug with a hand tool and no animal pulls anything. It is not "backward". It simply fit hilly land better.
- A common exam trap says the iron plough "spread uniformly across the subcontinent". This is false.