Is there anything ungrammatical about this sentence, beyond...

[Benjamin Barrett]

As always, an interesting observation. I agree it seems odd. I think the issue is with animacy. 

One starts one's X:
I started my puberty in India
I started my education in India - in this meaning, "cultivation" can be substituted in

Sentience/non-sentience (in addition to the first sentence above):
The Martian started its molt in India (assuming Martian sentience)
The snake started its molt in India ("started its molt" gets a small number of hits for animals)

With inanimate objects, though, it's harder to come up with something reasonable. There are some hits for the following:
corn started its ("About a year and a half later, the price of corn started its own climb.") - stock markets seem to be an exception, perhaps because its so difficult to not bore readers with numbers that writers resort to use such constructions
car started its ("This car started its life as a 1931 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750...") - anthropomorphic
wheat started its: ("Perhaps as early as 6000 BC, wheat started its travels from West to East Asia."
"This last wheat started its growth with the 'rains of early June." [sic on the single quote]
"Snow Wheat started its successful journey in the US...") - these all seem anthropomorphic and there is at least one hit referring to stock market prices  

The following, though, get zero relevant hits on Google:
bank started its erosion
limestone started its

My conclusion is that unless you are going for anthropomorphism or the stock market, inanimate objects don't belong in structures like that. Instead, something like, "Rice/Purslane cultivation got its start in India" is preferable.

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA

Learn Ainu! https://sites.google.com/site/aynuitak1/videos

On Jul 6, 2014, at 8:02 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:

> "I wouldn't put it this way"?
> 
> Purslane started its cultivation in India and Persia.
> 
> -- 
> -Wilson

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