Agriculture, Food, and Food Security - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 119

Chapter 5

Agriculture,F ood,and
F ood Security

“If you are planning for a year ,
sow rice; if you are planning for a
decade, plant trees; if you are
planning for a lifetime, educate
people. ”

C HINESE P ROVERB

Agricultural Foundations

Asia possesses a wealth of indigenous plant species. In
fact, many “familiar” foods originated there. However,
crop assemblages were altered with increased interregional
trade by land and sea. Plant diffusion was slow until the
fifteenth century , but by the seventeenth century , botanical
gardens had been established in Europe to foster plant ex-
changes around the world. As you can see in Figure 5-1,
wheat, the second most important grain crop in Asian
countries such as China and India, came from Southwest
Asia. China is the world' is largest growers of sweet pota-
toes, which originated in Mesoamerica. Mesoamerica also
gave corn to Asia, where it is eaten by both animals and
people and where you can even buy delicious corn ice
cream. Soybeans diffused from China across the Pacific to
America and Brazil. Now Brazil leads the world in soybean
production. Improved transportation and increased trade
have revolutionized diets around the world.
By the nineteenth century , the industrial world de-
manded non-food, industrial crops such as cotton and
rubber. Radical change derived from the introduction of
plantation crops such as rubber and oil palm, especially
in Southeast Asia. Commercial variety rubber originated
in South America and oil palms came from Africa. As
we'll see later in this chapter, plantation agriculture has

Agriculture is understood as the cultivation of crops
and rearing of livestock. Early humans were hunters
and gatherers but at some point learned to grow their
own food crops and raise their own meat supply . Veg-
eculture most likely preceded seed cultivation; cultivat-
ing tuber and tree crops such as taro and bananas
occurred prior to the domestication of rice and other
grains. Land does not require clearing for root and tree
crops, and a variety can be planted. These can be har-
vested at will; therefore, there is little need for storage
facilities. Seed cultivation requires land clearance. Fur-
thermore, grains have a specific growing season and
must be harvested all at once, making storage necessary .
Inadequate facilities invite losses to mold, insects, and
rodents.
Primitive vegeculture developed in tropical regions
around the world such as southern China, eastern India,
and mainland and insular (island) Southeast Asia. Veg-
eculture was practiced as early as 9000 BC in Thailand
and was definitely a multiregional phenomenon by 7000
BC .Evidence of vegeculture has turned up in many other
areas in Asia, including Taiwan and Japan.

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