At the
height of its production in the 19th Century, as many as ten million Indians were involved in
growing and harvesting poppies for the British opium trade. It can be argued that the production
of opium helped Indians by providing relatively stable jobs and supporting the country's
agrarian economy. In this sense, it may have been a boon for some Indians who would have been
unable to find work in other fields.
However, I might argue that opium
production hurt Indians overall. It turns out that the East India Company, which managed this
trade, was highly exploitive of its farmers. Opium farmers usually did not own their fields.
They rented them. The East India Company often required farmers to grow poppies on part of these
fields as a condition of their lease. The farmers were responsible for buying their own seeds,
manure, and equipment to do this. Although the East India Company often offered these farmers
interest-free loans to get them up and running, the cost of producing and harvesting the opium
poppies often outpaced the profits. This trapped many farmers in a series of debt and
contractual obligations which was difficult to get out of. Many Indians were unable to pay off
their debts, which in many ways were foisted upon them by British officials and therefore
remained in perpetual poverty. With so many Indians in this situation, other parts of the
economy suffered as well since there was less money to go around and support
it.
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