Green

What is GREEN Revolution?
Green Revolution is the use of mordern technology to help LDCs increase their production of food crops to solve food shortage.

Background and History of Green Revolution

The term Green Revolution refers to the renovation of agricultural practices beginning in Mexico in the 1940s. Because of its success in producing more agricultural products there, Green Revolution technologies spread worldwide in the 1950s and 1960s, significantly increasing the amount of calories produced per acre of agriculture.

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-yield varieties of wheat. By combining Borlaug's wheat varieties with 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. Prior to the use of these varieties, the country was importing almost half of its wheat supply.

Due to the success of the Green Revolution in Mexico, its technologies spread worldwide in the 1950s and 1960s. The United States for instance, imported about half of its wheat in the 1940s but after using Green Revolution technologies, it became self-sufficient in the 1950s and became an exporter by the 1960s.

Why is there a need?

Efforts are required to increase food production keep up with rapid population growth. This is especially so in LCDs, where subsistence farming could not produce food to meed the damnds of the people. As the LCDs began to develop, there was rising competition for land needed for housing and industry, resulting in less land available for farming. As a result, it is a challenge to make use of the remaining land that is available for farming to produce enough food to feed people. There is therefore a need to look for a solution to cope with the situation. The available land left had to be cultivated more intensively to increase the amount of food produced.

The Green Revolution was the first systematic attempt which made mordern technology available for farming in the LCDs. The aim of Green Revolution was to reduce food shortage by increasing food production and to halp subsistence farmers in the LCDs to increase their income and help LDCs be more self-sufficient.

High-yielding varieties (HYVs)

A significant feature of the Green revolution was the developments of improved strains of rice, wheat and other cereals. These imoroved strains of rice are known as high-yielding varieties and they were developed by cross-breeding a broad range of existing cereal strains. Depending on the need of farmers, the HYVs are develpoed with different special traits such as pest-resistance or shorter growth duration as compared to normal cereals.

An example of the HYV is the IR58. It is known as the 'wonder rice' of the 1980s and is resistant to most pests and diseases. In addition, it also requires a shorter period to grow as compared to other strains of HYV. The IR58 has a growing period of 100 days compare the the eralier IR8's 130 days. This shorter growing peIriod results in even higher yield of crops prodcuced.

Modern irrigation methods were also introduced during the Green Revolution. Irrigation is the practise of supplying water to the land using artificial means. The means include huge irrigation facilities such as human-made dykes, dams ans canals, to direct water from their sources, such as rivers and reservoirs to farms. They also include the use of automated irrigation systems like water sprinkles and sluice gates to control the amount if water used for watering the crops.

Irrigation allows farmers to control the amount of water supplied to crops. Thus it is usually practised in countries such as Egypt where rainfall is insufficient. It is also practised in countries such as India which exprience seasoal or irregular rainfall throughout the year. This ensures the crops recieve enough water during dry seasons, to ensure healthy plant growth, which will eventually increase production of crops.

Use of chemicals: examples of some chemicals used-

Fertilisers are substances added into the soil of a piece of land to provide nutrients to ensure healthy plant growth.This is especially useful when farmers need to continuously use their land for cultivatiob of crops. Different type of fertilisers can be mixed to meet specific needs of crops and different soil types The use of fertilisers to enrich the soil is a good way to ensure a continuous supply of nutrients for the plants throughout the growing season. This will ultimately increase output of crops and help reduce food shortage.

Pesticides are toxic chemicals used to destroy pets which affect crop growth. They may be in the form of insecticides whuch kills insects, or poison which gets rid of other animals or pests who eat crops. For example in India, arsenic is uded by farmers to poison rats who attack rice crops. When crops remained unharmed, production of crops will improve.

Economic Advantages:

1)In india, Green Revolution brought about some economic benefits. Advantage to farmers: this includes their economic situation improving, as their profits increased and they have more earnings. This is mostly because of the significant increase in production ans yields. Even small and marginal farmers getting better yield, control on many insects and pests, mechanizing improved working conditions. New seeds have also been developed with better yield and disease fighting capability.

2) As production increase, the economic situation of a country can also improve. For example, Philipines, a major rice producing country will see its economic situation improving when it is able to produce more rice to export to other parts of the world.

Social benefits:
1) Higher income growth for some farmers and reduced incidence of poverty were found in the states where yields increased the most. Standard of living was hence improved for some.
2) Wheat and rice production have increased significantly, and more land is now given to growing these crops. As production of crops increase, there will be more food to feed the growing population. Hence there will be less hunger and problems brought about by food shortage will be reduced.
3) Jobs are created in fertilizerfactories, transport (to transport suppies around) etc.
4) Government schemes to benefit poor people, including land redistribution, have been important alongside Green Revolution prosperity.There is an increase in rural to urban migration.

Although the objectives of the Green Revolution were realistic and attainable, several problems regarding their application are still being encountered thirty years later.

Disadvantage of Green Revolution:

Loss of Diversity-(ecology)
Diversity is a central principle of traditional agriculture in the Punjab, a in the rest of India,. Such diversity contributed to ecological stability, and hence to ecosystem productivity. The lower the diversity in an ecosystem, the higher its vulnerability to pests and desease.
The Green Revolution has reduced genetic diversity at two levels. First, it replaced mixtures and rotations of crops like wheat, maize, millets, pulses and oil seeds which monocultures of wheat and rice. Second, the introduced wheat and rice varieties came from a very narrow genetic base. On this narrow and alien genetic base the food supplies of millions are precariously perched.
Also,

• -chemical fertilizers can lead to water pollution
• -machineries and pesticides lead to air pollution

Economic disadvantage:

• The peasant farmers are poor and cannot afford farming implements, insecticides, pesticides and fertiliser. Poorer farmers therefore cannot achieve yields as high as those with better access to water, fertiliser and land.
• The Green Revolution is an expensive programme and there is a lack of capital for meeting the costs. The country increasingly relies on loans from abroad to pay for their programmes.
• Yields increased steadily for 15 years after the Green Revolution, but have now slowed or reversed. This means food security could again become a problem as the population continues to grow rapidly.
• Hence the Green Revolution do not just have benefits.

Social Disadvantage:
1) Many people were made unemployed as their labour is no longer required, as Machinery can replace their manpower. When they are out of jobs, they will face difficulty feeding their families and more problems may arise.
2) Also, in many countries, the widespread use of pesticides and other agro-chemicals has caused severe environmental degradation and endangered public health.
3) Cash cropping may not increase local food supply, thus not achieving aim of Green Revolution and people may continue to suffer from food shortage.
4) Green Revolution is expensive and could not be afforded by the poorer farmers. Hence while richer farmers managed to increase their productivity and income, the poorer farmers do not gain from this and as a result, the gap between the rich and the poor had widen in India.