ABSTRACT
This chapter presents agricultural ecology as an outcome of intersecting forces represented by the traditional world view and technology on the one hand and by the village lands on the other. A village is created when people move into unoccupied areas, construct houses, and prepare the land for agricultural use. Within the village boundaries, agricultural resources—such as types of soil, patterns of rainfall, and potentialities for irrigation and well construction—influence the selection of particular crops and crop types. Village boundaries are fixed as a result of decision-making processes in which traditional values are weighed against the demands of efficient agricultural production. New village boundaries must be established with due regard to the existing boundaries of other villages. The importance of the village site and boundary derives from the fact that most people in South India live in tightly packed clusters of houses usually labeled “nucleated villages.”
