Question

Indian farmers were not willing to cultivate opium because ____________.

• A. it required fertile land and needed more care
• B. opium cultivation spoiled their health
• C. opium was addictive and its cultivation was immoral
• D. the rent to be paid to the government was high

Answer 1

The correct option is A it required fertile land and needed more care

The Indian farmers were not willing to divert their best fields for opium cultivation because it would have resulted in poor production cereals and pulses. Many cultivators did not own land. For opium cultivation, they had to lease land from landlords and pay rent. The cultivation of opium was a difficult process and time consuming. This would have left little time for the farmers to care for other crops. The government paid very low price for the opium which made it an unprofitable proposition.