Agriculture

ORIGIN
It is not certain when agriculture began. "Agriculture involves deliberate effort to modify the earth's surface through cultivation of crops and rearing of live-stock for sustenance or economic gain." It is likely that agriculture had multiple points of origin from where it spread to other parts of the earth's surface. Vegeculture-the reproduction of plants by direct cloning of existent plants-was probably first practised in South-east Asia. Animals like the dog, pig and chicken, too, were first domesticated in South-East Asia. Other early centres for vegeculture were'located in West Africa and North-west South America. Seed agriculture­reproducing plants through annual introduction of seeds­may have originated in several locations, including China, Western India" Ethiopia, Southern Mexico and north-west­ern South America.