ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with estimating the amount of food they grew. It explains the boom and bust in tong oil and opium production and sales had a great deal to do with the prosperity and depression of the highland communities as a whole. The shortage of arable land and transport difficulties for heavy and bulky food either upstream or uphill put a firm limit on the increase in food supply, hence also the increase in population. One can imagine a situation in which a highland tenant would be allowed to pay rent in opium or cash from selling opium instead of rice to his absentee landlord, thus keeping the rice in the highlands for local consumption. Agricultural commercialization brought more cash to the highlands to facilitate the commutation to money rent. The rates of rent were generally lower than those on the plains, but there were exceptions due to specific local conditions.
