The Green Revolution in

India
Changing Agricultural
Traditions

DEFINITIONS

J.G. HARRAR, The Green Revolution is the phrase generally used

to describe the spectacular increase that took place during 19671968 and is continuing in the production of food grains in India.

TheGreen revolutionis a process of technological development

ofagricultural techniques that began inMexicoin1944and has
since spread throughout the world. The goal of the Green
revolution was to increase the efficiency of agricultural processes
so that the productivity of the crops was increased and could help
developing countries to face their growing populations needs.

What was the green

revolution?

A movement starting post

WWII to address food
shortages in developing
countries

International relief
organizations invested in
research to breed more
productive rice and wheat
crops.

New agricultural technologies

were brought to Indiafertilizer, agrochemicals, new
types of irrigation

History

The initial stimulus for the Green

Revolution was Mexicos desire to
become self-sufficient in wheat
production.

The beginnings of the Green Revolution

are often attributed to Norman Borlaug,
an American scientist interested in
agriculture. In the 1940s, he began
conducting research in Mexico and
developed new disease resistance
high By
combining Borlaug's wheat varieties with
yield varieties of wheat.
new mechanized agricultural technologies,
Mexico was able to produce more wheat than
was needed by its own citizens, leading to its
becoming an exporter of wheat by the 1960s.

Rockefeller Foundation funding helped

establish the CIMMYT(the International Maize
and Wheat Improvement Center in 1963.

In 1960, the Rockefeller Foundation,

Ford Foundation, and the United
States Department of Agriculture
worked together to create the IRRI,
the International Rice Research
Institute in Philippines.

IRRI produced IR8 ricevariety ,

which was quickly adopted with
spectacular increases in yield
throughout Asia and dubbed the
"Miracle Rice".
In the first eleven countries where farmers adopted the new rice varieties,
the average yields for rice increased by 52% between 1965 and 1983. In
countries where the new varieties were not adopted, rice yields declined
4% during the same period.

Countries all over the world in turn benefited from the Green Revolution
work conducted by Borlaug and this research institution.

In recognition of his pioneering work, Borlaug was awarded the 1970

Nobel Peace Prize and is known as the Father of the Green Revolution.
And so the green revolution moved to India.

Green Revolution
In
India

INTRODUCTION

The world's worst recorded food disaster happened

in 1943 in British-ruled India. Known as the Bengal
Famine, an estimatedfour millionpeoplediedof
hunger that year alone in eastern India.

When the British left India four years later in 1947,

India continued to be haunted by memories of the
Bengal Famine. It was therefore natural that food
security was a paramount item on free India's
agenda

In 1961, India was on the brink of mass famine.

Norman Borlaugwas invited to India by the adviser
to the Indian minister of agricultureC.
Subramaniam. The government decided to import
wheat seed from theInternational Maize and Wheat
Improvement Center(CIMMYT).

Punjabwas selected by the Indian government to be

the first site to try the new crops because of its
reliable water supply and a history of agricultural
success.

On the other hand MS Swaminathan also introduced Japanese-Mexican wheat

hybrid which made Indian wheat production rise from 10 million tons a year to
18 million tons in 1969.

India soon adoptedIR8 a semi-dwarfricevariety developed by

theInternational Rice Research Institute(IRRI). In 1968, IR8 rice yielded about
5 tons per hectare.

In the 1960s, rice yields in India were about two tons per hectare; by the mid1990s, they had risen to six tons per hectare. In the 1970s, rice cost about
$550 a ton; in 2001, it cost under $200 a ton.India became one of the world's
most successful rice producers, and is now a major rice exporter, shipping
nearly 4.5million tons in 2006.

THE FATHER OF GREEN REVOLUTION

MS Swaminathan(born 7 August 1925) is

an Indiangeneticistand international
administrator, renowned for his leading
role in India's Green Revolution.

Swaminathan is known as "Indian Father

of Green Revolution" for his leadership
and success in introducing and further
developing high-yielding varieties of
wheat in India. He is the founder and
chairman of theMS Swaminathan
Research Foundation.

He first became director of the division in July of 1966 of IARI (Indian

Agricultural Research Institute).

The core of his investigation focused on a collection of wheat plants at the IARI.
He experimented with cross-breeding native Indian varieties with Japanese
strains and with a dwarf wheat plant developed in Mexico by Norman Borlaug.

Within two years of the introduction of Swaminathan's Japanese-Mexican

wheat hybrid, Indian wheat production rose from 10 million tons a year to
18 million tons. He made similar breakthroughs with rice. Swaminathan
concurred, "It became a wheat revolution.

In the 1970s Swaminathan was aided in his efforts to improve Indian

farming by the country's Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, who gave him free
rein to reform India's agricultural bureaucracy and in 1979 named him
principal secretary of India's Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation.

In 1982 he became the director general of the International Rice Research

Institute. He returned to India in 1989 and founded the Center for
Research on Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development in Madras,
having served as honorary vice president of the World Wildlife Fund from
1985 to 1987.

Currently, he is the chairman of theNational Commission on Farmers.

MEASURES ADOPTED IN GREEN REVOLUTION

DOUBLE-CROPPING AND
CONTINUING EXPANSION OF
FARMING AREAS

Double cropping was a primary feature of the Green Revolution.

Instead of one crop season per year, the decision was made to have
two crop seasons per year. The one-season-per-year practice was
based on the fact that there is only one rainy season annually. Water
for the second phase now came from huge irrigation projects. Dams
were built and other simple irrigation techniques were also adopted.

The area of land under

cultivation was being
increased from 1947 itself. But
this was not enough to meet
the rising demand. Though
other methods were required,
the expansion of cultivable
land also had to continue. So,
the Green Revolution
continued with this

USING SEEDS WITH IMPROVED

GENETICS.
Using seeds with superior genetics,
choosing appropriate seeds (IR-8,IR-20,IR22) was the scientific aspect of the Green
Revolution. These seeds were
1. Better in quality
2. Pest resistant
With proper inputs (fertilizer, chemicals)
could produce up to 5x more grain per
hectare
Semi dwarf varieties developed
More plant mass found in grain
Resistant to high winds
controlled water supply
improved moisture utilization

IRRIGATION

New irrigation methods began to arise

which lowered the effects of droughts
and protected crops while yielding a
higher crop production.

Drip irrigation, a new system, focused

on saving water as well as fertilizer by
allowing water to drip at a slow and
steady pace to the roots of plants. It
minimized weed growth and soil erosion
while reducing energy costs.

Other modernizing irrigation techniques,

such as sprinkler, center pivot, lateral
move, and sub-irrigation, also provided
advances in cultivating crops during the
winter as it seemed to reduce the
impact of low rainfall on yield

FERTILIZERS
During the Green Revolution era, the
use of synthetic nitrogen-based
fertilizers became very popular and
commonly used in new agricultural
methods. This helped to adjust the soil
pH balance and achieve the right
levels of all the important chemical
compounds needed for the plant to
grow.
It was concluded that Nitrogen is the
most important mineral nutrient for
cereal production, and an adequate
supply is essential for high yields,
especially with modern cultivars
Worldwide fertilizer use increased
rapidly from 14 million tons in 1950 to
140 million tons in 1990.

PESTICIDES
Pesticides became commonly used in
order to prevent the high levels of pest
and disease damage that occur during
vast crop production on farming lands.

Common : insecticides and fungicides.

These pesticides in addition to
fertilizers boosted crop production and
improved both the quality and yield
tremendously as they acted as growth
regulators, desiccants, and harvest
aids.
New technology controlled the time of
maturity or ripening, aided mechanical
harvesting, defoliated plants before
harvest, and altered other plant
functions.

FARM MECHANIZATION
Green revolution allowed a drastic
reduction in the input of human labor to
agriculture by extending the use of
machinery to automate every possible
agricultural process like tractors,
mechanized harvesters , threshers etc.
This helped in :
Increasing the farmers productivity
Having a shorter growing season
Making double or treble cropping.

GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
Government provides :
Subsidies: pesticides, seeds
Commercial banks
Finance houses

RESULTS
OF
GREEN
REVOLUTION

STATISTICAL RESULTS
The Green Revolution resulted in a record grain output of 131
million tons in 1978-79. This established India as an exporter
and one of the world's biggest agricultural producers.
Yield per unit of farmland improved by more than 30 per cent
between 1947 (when India gained political independence) and
1979 when the Green Revolution was considered to have
delivered its goods.
The crop area under HYV varieties grew from seven per cent to
22 per cent of the total cultivated area during the 10 years of
the Green Revolution.
More than 70 per cent of the wheat crop area, 35 per cent of
the rice crop area and 20 per cent of the millet and corn crop
area, used the HYV seeds.
No other country in the world which attempted the Green
Revolution recorded such level of success.

ECONOMIC RESULTS
Crop areas under HYVs needed more water, fertilizer, pesticides,
fungicides and certain other chemicals. This spurred the growth of
the local manufacturing sector which created new jobs and
contributed to the country's GDP.
The increase in irrigation created need for new dams to harness
monsoon water. The water stored was used to create hydroelectric power. This in turn boosted industrial growth, created jobs
and improved the quality of life of the people in villages.
India paid back all loans it had taken from the World Bank for the
purpose of the Green Revolution. This improved India's
creditworthiness in the eyes of the lending agencies.
Some developed countries, especially Canada, which were facing
a shortage in agricultural labour, were so impressed by the results
of India's Green Revolution that they asked the Indian government
to supply them with farmers experienced in the methods of the

POLITICAL RESULTS
India transformed itself from a starving nation to an exporter
of food. This earned admiration for India in the comity of
nations, especially in the Third World.
The Green Revolution was one factor that madeMrs. Indira
Gandhi (1917-84)and her party, theIndian National
Congress, a very powerful political force in India.

Failures of the Green Revolution

1. LOSS OF BIO-DIVERSITY

The Green Revolution package has reduced genetic diversity at two levels.

First, it replaced mixtures and rotations of crops like wheat, maize, millets,
pulses and oil seeds with monocultures of wheat and rice.

Secondly, of the thousands of dwarf varieties bred by Borlaug, only three

were eventually used in the Green Revolution. On this narrow and alien
genetic base the food supplies of millions are precariously perched.

2. INCREASING PESTICIDE USE

Because of their narrow genetic base, HYVs are

inherently vulnerable to major pests and
diseases.

Large-scale monoculture provides a large and

often permanent niche for pests, turning minor
diseases into epidemics. The result has been a
massive increase in the use of pesticides, in itself
creating still further pest problems due to the
emergence of pesticide-resistant pests.

Pesticides travel through food chain and

accumulate in higher organisms while
some persist in soil, air, surface water and
ground water and continue to poison them
for a long time.
Long term exposure to pesticides causes
cancer and tumor in animals. Long term
exposure to pesticides such
asorganochlorines andsulfatehave been
correlated with higher cancer rates such

3. SOIL EROSION

Marginal land or forests have been cleared to make way for the expansion of agriculture;
rotations have been abandoned; and cropland is now used to grow soil depleting crops yearin, year-out.

The removal of legumes from cropping patterns, for example, has removed a major source of
free nitrogen from the soil. In addition, the new HYVs reduce the supply of fodder and
organic fertilizer available to farmers.

High-yielding varieties rapidly deplete micronutrients from soils and chemical fertilizers
cannot compensate for the loss. Micronutrient deficiencies of zinc, iron, copper, manganese,
magnesium and boron are thus common.

4. WATER SHORTAGES

Traditionally, irrigation was only used in the Punjab as an insurance

against crop failure in times of severe drought. Although high-yielding
varieties of wheat may yield over 40 per cent more than traditional
varieties, they need about three times as much water.

One result of the Green Revolution has therefore been to create conflicts
over diminishing water resources. Where crops are dependent on
groundwater for irrigation, the water table is declining at an estimated
rate of one-third to half a metre per year.

Intensive irrigation has led to the need for large-scale storage systems,
centralizing control over water supplies and leading to both local and
inter-state water conflicts.

Despite a succession of water-sharing agreements between the Punjab,

Rajasthan and Haryana, there is increasing conflict over both the
availability of water and its quality.

5. SOCIAL IMPACT

The initial financial rewards to many farmers could

not be continued indefinitely and farmers in the
Punjab are now facing increasing indebtedness.

The increased capital intensity of farming has

generated new inequalities between those who
could use the new technology profitably, and those
for whom it turned into an instrument of
dispossession.

The commercialization of seeds has been actively

encouraged by the World Bank, despite widespread
resistance from farmers who prefer to retain and
exchange seeds among themselves, outside the
market framework.

The worsening lot of the peasantry in the Punjab,

which is largely made up of Sikhs, has undoubtedly
contributed to the development of Punjab
nationalism. Many complain that the Punjab is being
treated like a colony in order to provide cheap food
for urban elites elsewhere in India.

CRISIS IN PUNJAB

SECOND GREEN
REVOLUTION
Dr MS Swaminathan is the present chairman of National Commission on
Farmers. He gives a new call for Evergreen Revolution for doubling the
present production of the food grains by adopting some best techniques and
promotion of organic farming .
The 11th five year plan has targeted 4% growth in agriculture sector. However,
the growth has not been achieved.
The approach paper to the 11th five year plan had highlighted a framework
which envisaged improvements such as doubling the rate of growth of
irrigated area, improvement of water management, rainwater harvesting,
reclamation of degraded land, focusing on soil quality, bridging the knowledge
gap, diversification into high value outputs etc

CONCLUSION
GREEN REVOLUTION has done a lot of positive things, saving
the lives of millions people and exponentially increasing the
yield of food crops.
But environmental degradation makes the Green Revolution an
overall inefficient, short-term solution to the problem of food
insecurity.
So, more sustainable and environmental friendly system of
cultivation needs to be practice call as Organic Farming. The
world is on the brink of a Green Revolution 2.0 which promises
to both feed a growing population to do so sustainably-without
compromising the needs of the future generation to feed
themselves.