Anti-famine tropics: Botanical gardens as micro-climatic infrastructure.

This article examines how the resettlement of tropical plants through British Botanical Gardens during early colonial India shaped colonial famine interventions and agricultural transformation. Established initially to address famines by introducing climate-suitable crops, these gardens functioned as both physical infrastructures that altered environments at the micro-climatic level and as knowledge infrastructures that revealed and addressed gaps in understanding local soil, temperature, land, and socio-cultural conditions—collectively termed "micro-climate." The Botanical Gardens, alongside the Agri-Horticultural Society of India (AHSI), facilitated the spread of cash crops over subsistence farming, contributing to the commercialization of agriculture. Despite their intended role in famine relief, these infrastructures ultimately became part of the colonial extractive system that exacerbated famines over time by reshaping ecological and social landscapes.