Synopses & Reviews
AGRICULTURE was the mainstay of Iran's economy
in the nineteenth century, yet little is known about
it. Historians have rarely taken that important reality
into account when writing on the economic or
social history of that period, and until now there
have been no comprehensive studies of Iranian
agriculture. Now, in Agriculture in Qajar Iran,
renowned scholar Willem Floor has compiled an
all-encompassing analysis of nineteenth-century
Iranian agriculture based on extensive research
into previously untapped Persian and European
archives. Floor presents farming in Iran from the
ground up and in its every dimension. His investigation
covers farming methods like irrigation and
seeding, the raising of livestock, and the range of
crops cultivated, from wheat, barley, and rice, to
the more notorious cash crops of tobacco and
opium. Floor also delves into methods of forestry
and fishing, subjects about which very little is
known and even less has been written, until now.
Agriculture in Qajar Iran traces the commercialization
of Iranian farming, and explains how
this process altered the structure of Iran's economy.
The change included the rise in cash crops, the
growth of wage labor, the rise in off-farm employment,
and the market economy's growing influence
in the countryside. Floor also highlights the
importance of trade within this burgeoning system,
and gauges the impact of the commercialization
of agriculture on the rural population's socioeconomic
status.
Agriculture in Qajar Iran presents fascinating
accounts of just how the Iranian peasantry lived,
vivid stories of what they ate, how theydressed,
and whether or not the new agricultural order
enriched or impoverished their lives. The study is
richly illustrated with photographs and drawings
from the period which illuminate and enliven
Floor's subjects. Because of the enormous
impact the agricultural sector had on the welfare
of the entire nation, rich and poor, and on the
social and cultural, as well as on the economic
life of the country, Agriculture in Qajar Iran is a
must-read for those interested in the history of
Iran, and rural sociology, international trade, and
development economics.