Department of EconomicsBapatla College of Arts & Science

The Green Revolution in India Changing Agricultural Traditions

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 India- fertilizer, agrochemicals, new types of irrigation

Major issues

• Conflict between western and traditional indigenous views

• Development• Science• Agriculture • Environment

• An effort to break ecological limits that resulted in new types of insecurity and vulnerability

• Political, cultural and economic issues inherent in green revolution exacerbated political, ethnic and religious tensions

Why was a revolution needed?

• Famine had ripped though parts of India in the past, and many economists and agricultural scientists predicted worse famine in the future is a new plan was not put in place

• Overpopulation was stretching India’s food resources

• Government inability to ensure proper movement of good to areas that were in need

What were the political consequences?

• Growing Fears in US about spread of communism

• Food insecurity created political insecurity which could lead to communist uprisings

• Part of the US strategy to combat communism was to ensure food security in developing countries

President Truman visiting the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines

Green revolution vs. traditional agriculture

• Green revolution introduced High Yielding Crop Varieties (HYCVs) to India

• HYCVs required constant input of agrochemicals (pesticides etc.) and fertilizers

• New irrigation techniques were implemented

• HYCV seeds and agrochemicals needed to be obtained from NGOs or from large distributors

• Created difficult environment for small farmers

• Seed had traditionally been harvested yearly from the field, now farming required lots of inputs

High yield crop varieties (HYCVs)

• International Rice Research Institute, IRRI

• IR8 “miracle seed”– Cooking quality issues– Pest resistance issues

• 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

Distribution plant for IR8 in Africa

Agrochemicals

• Issues from improper use of agrochemicals• Farmers wee not always taught proper application techniques• Toxic issues from pesticides• Over fertilization

• Most fertilizers imported from US• Created large market for fertilizer manufacturing• Many war time explosive manufacturing plants converted to fertilizer

manufacturing

•Fertilizers had not been used on traditional crop varieties, promoted vegetation growth without increasing yield•Pesticide use necessary, many HYCV had poor pest resistance

How did India benefit?

• Increased Crop Yield seen in majority of HYCV areas

• Large expansion of HYCV use continued well though the 80’s

• Farms with proper use of agrochemicals/fertilizers saw dramatic increase

• Benefit not seen as much in small farms

• Eventually in most areas crop yield plateaued and subsequently fell

What were the ecological consequences?

• Problems with soil fertility• Micronutrient issues

• Increased dependence of external applications of fertilizer

• Water quality issues• Ecological degradation caused

returns to decrease at the years went on

• Loss of diversity • Improper application of

pesticides caused poisoning

Activist poster from the 1980s calling for an end to pesticide use

What were the social and political consequences• Changed the nature of agriculture,

from internal to external inputs (buying seed, fertilizer etc)

• The commercialization of relationships and subsequent cultural erosion

• The rapid increase in grain in the first several years drove down the price of food, harder for small farmers to make a profit

• It increased competition for smaller resources, rural inequality

What were the social and political consequences

• Seed and chemical distribution was controlled by the Indian government, the top-down approach created tensions in the state

• Decreasing return on investments caused many farmers to blame government

• Increased ethnic and religious tensions• Feelings of resentment among farmers• Farm riots

Crisis in Punjab • Punjab region once known as

India's “bread basket”• Inhabited by Sikh minority• Tensions between state and

central Indian government over control of agricultural economics

• Increased ethnic/religious tensions

• Call for formation of independent Sikh state

Crisis in Punjab

Crisis in Punjab

-violence-

resentment

Nature of green

revolution:-conflict over

resources -class conflict

-pauperization-declines of profitability

-environmental degridation

How does this relate to environmental history?

• Changed how farmers interacted with the environment– Movement to high tech

centralized agriculture– Commercialization of

major grain seed• Illustrates relationships

between environmental degradation and political/social issues