Question

Which of the following reasons could be attributed to the unwillingness of Indian peasantry to cultivation of Opium?
A. Opium addiction damages health of people
B. The cultivation of opium at the existing prices was not profitable for the farmers
C. The climatic conditions were not suitable for its cultivation in India
D. None of these

Answer 1

Hint: Although opium has had a long history in the region as both a medicinal and recreational drug, it was only under British rule that it became a major item of trade. Almost 1.5 million small peasant households cultivated a highly labour-intensive poppy plant on their fields at the height of the colonial opium industry and then shipped the processed raw opium to the nearest government opium office.

Complete answer:
In the old days, farmers would hold some of their home-made opium for their relatives, be used during illnesses, or at harvests and weddings; the remainder would be sold to local nobles or Pykari merchants of Patna. A few clumps of poppy were enough back then to cater for the needs of a family, leaving a little more to be sold.

Because of all the effort, it took to grow poppies, no one was inclined to plant more-fifteen than ploughings of the land and each remaining clod to be built; purchases of manure and constant watering; and after all, the frenzy of the harvest, each bulb must be individually nicknamed, drained, and scrapped. Such punishment was only tolerable when a patch of poppies was less, but when a person would want to multiply these labors when they were better, more useful crops to grow.

The English sahibs would make it possible to plant nothing else; their agents would go from home to home, pressuring the farmers to make cash advances, making them sign asámi contracts. It was difficult to say no to them: they would leave their silver concealed in your house, if you refused, or they would throw it through a window. It was no use informing the white magistrate that the money had not been approved and your thumbprint had been forged: he won opium commissions and would never let you go.

Therefore the answer is B.

Note:
The price the government paid to the cultivators for the opium they produced was very low. The success of the trade of opium was partially achieved by military means.