Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 82 (2000) 97–103

Environmental consequences of agricultural development: a casestudy from the Green Revolution state of Haryana, India

R.B. SinghDepartment of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi 110 007, India

Abstract

The Green Revolution in India has achieved self-sufficiency in food production. However, in the state of Haryana this hasresulted in continuous environmental degradation, particularly of soil, vegetation and water resources. Soil organic matterlevels are declining and the use of chemical inputs is intensifying. Newly introduced crop varieties have been responsive toinputs but this has necessitated both increased fertiliser application and use of irrigation resulting in water contamination bynitrate and phosphate and changes in the ground water table. With 82% of the geographic area already under cultivation, thescope for increased productivity lies in further intensification which is crucially dependent on more energy-intensive inputs.Declining nutrient-use efficiency, physical and chemical degradation of soil, and inefficient water use have been limitingcrop productivity, whilst the use of monocultures, mechanisation and an excessive reliance on chemical plant protectionhave reduced crop, plant and animal diversity in recent years. About 60% of the geographical area faces soil degradation(waterlogging, salinity and alkalinity) which threatens the region’s food security in the future. Since 1985, the water table hasrisen more than 1 m annually, and patches of salinity have started to appear at the farm level. The situation is worse in higherrainfall areas where waterlogging follows shortly after the rains. Apart from affecting agricultural crops, a high water tablecauses floods even following slight rains due to the reduced storage capacity of the soil. Such ecological impacts are motivatingfarmers to reduce fertiliser and pesticides use. This has led to an increased investment in alternative technology and productsincluding an interest in Integrated Pest Management. The paper discusses major physical, hydrological, chemical and biologicalconstraints relating to soil and water resources for ecosystem sustainability. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords:Environmental consequences; Agricultural development; Green Revolution

1. Introduction

Prior to the mid-1960s, increased crop productionin India was largely achieved by expansion of cultiva-ted area. To gain self-sufficiency in food grain produc-tion, a new agricultural strategy popularly knownas the ‘Green Revolution’ was implemented in themid-1960s. This strategy involved the use of moderntechnology, including HYV (high yielding variety)seeds, chemical fertilisers, irrigation facilities, impro-

E-mail addresses:singhrb@ndf.vsnl.net.in (R.B. Singh),rbsgeo@hotmail.com (R.B. Singh).

ved farm implements and crop protection measures.It succeeded, and food self-sufficiency was attained.Food grain production increased from 72× 106 Mgin 1965–1966 to 167× 106 Mg in 1991–1992,198 × 106 Mg in 1994–1995 and 203× 106 Mg in1998–1999. This production increased due to bothextensification and intensification. The area undercultivation for food grain crops increased from 115.1×106 ha in 1965–1966 to 127.84×106 ha in 1990–1991,and the area under HYV seeds expanded from1.89 × 106 ha in 1966–1967 to 70.7 × 106 ha in1993–1994. The consumption of chemical fertili-sers increased from 0.292× 106 Mg in 1960–1961 to

0167-8809/00/$ – see front matter © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.PII: S0167-8809(00)00219-X

98 R.B. Singh / Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 82 (2000) 97–103

12.15 × 106 Mg in 1992–1993, However the majorconcern for the scientists and policymakers is to sus-tain the productivity in order to achieve food securityto the fast growing population.

In Punjab and Haryana the contribution to totalnational food grain production increased from 3%before the Green Revolution to 20% at present, con-tributing 50 and 85% of government procurementof rice and wheat, respectively. The yield perhectare increased from 0.63 Mg ha−1 in 1965–1966to 1.37 Mg ha−1 in 1991–1992. The total area underirrigation area has almost doubled since 1960–1961.The increases achieved by the Green Revolution havecreated several environmental problems, viz. defor-estation, waterlogging, salinity, alkalinity, soil erosionand decline and rise of the ground water table linkedto brackish water, etc. These environmental prob-lems became evident in the 1980s, and are becomingincreasingly prominent through time (Singh, 1997;Kumar and Pasricha, 1999).

The study region, Haryana state, where the GreenRevolution was implemented during the 1960s, coversa geographical area of 4.374×106 ha of which 82% iscropped. Haryana falls under the Punjab plains whichhave been developed by the river systems of Ravi,Beas, Sutlej and Yamuna over geological time-scaleswith the sediments of Shivaliks and Himalayas in thenorth and Aravalli’s brought by the tributaries of theYamuna. The state has great variation in the range ofrainfall from 300 to 1100 mm. The agro-ecosystem isan energy-intensive marketable surplus system whichreceives little micronutrient input.

The main objective of the paper is to illustratecritical environmental situations and challenges ofsustainability in the most intensively cultivated statesof India, such as Haryana, in order to report theprogress achieved during the Green Revolution andthe environmental problems encountered.

2. Land use change: an emerging scenario

After the Green Revolution there has been some ex-tensification in Haryana state. The net sown area wasrecorded as approximately 78% in 1966–1967 and inexcess of 81% in 1990–1991. Intensification has in-creased with a significant expansion in the area withmore than one crop sown per year, during 30 years

between 1950–1951 to 1980–1981, this increasedfrom 11 to 42% and again to 53.6% in 1990–1991,this is mainly due to the improvements in irrigationand agricultural technology. As land use intensity hasincreased, the area of land under irrigation has alsoincreased, from approximately 61% in 1984–1985 to73% in 1990–1991. The total area under irrigationhas increased from 1.29 × 106 ha in 1965–1966 to2.66× 106 ha in 1994–1995.

3. Impact of the Green Revolution on croppingsystems

There has been a remarkable shift in India in thecropping patterns for both wet season and wintercrops since the Green Revolution (Table 1). Rice(Oryza sativa) and wheat (Triticum) have replacedpulses, bajra (Pearl millet), jowar/sorghum (Syricum),as dominant food crops, while cotton (Gossypiumspp.) is the key cash crop. The main wet season cropsin 1965–1966 comprised bajra (46%), rice (13%) andsorghum (12%); however in 1995–1996 rice (34%)was the major crop followed by bajra (27%) and cot-ton (24%). For winter crops wheat has increased inproduction as major crop from 43% in 1965–1966 to64% in 1995–1996. In Haryana, the yields of rice andwheat have increased considerably (Table 2). Gur-gaon district recorded highest compound growth rateof 5.22% for wheat crops during 1986–1995.

Table 1Changing cropping patterna

Crops 1965–1966 (%) 1995–1996 (%)

Rainy season (Kharif)Bajra 46 27Rice 13 34Sorghum or jowar 12 5Cotton 11 24Sugarcane 8 6Maize (Taino mahiz) 6 1Pulses 3 3

Winter season (Rabi)Wheat 43 64Chickpea (Cicer arietinum) 42 14Barley (Hordeum vulgare) 7 2Oilseeds 6 19Pulses 2 1

a Source: Indian Council of Agricultural Research, 1998.

R.B. Singh / Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 82 (2000) 97–103 99

Table 2Production and productivity and of rice and wheat in Haryanaa

Crops 1965–1966 1989–1990 1992–1993

Production(×106 Mg)

Productivity(Mg ha−1)

Production(×106 Mg)

Productivity(Mg ha−1)

Production(×106 Mg)

Productivity(Mg ha−1)

Rice 0.20 1.06 1.99 2.73 1.86 2.65Wheat 0.87 1.28 5.91 3.18 7.08 3.61

a Source: various reports.

Cropping patterns have changed as a result of thenew agricultural technologies including irrigation fa-cilities, improved seed varieties, pesticides, insecti-cides and new methods of farming. Recently, however,the two dominant crops, rice and wheat, have beenfacing severe constraints and challenges for sustain-able productivity (Sharma and Mukhopadhyay, 1999)(Table 3).

4. Environmental consequences of agriculturaldevelopment

Increasing pressure of the population on the landdictates the need for potential utilisation of all avail-able land. However, large parts of the land are de-graded by desertification, soil salinity, waterlogging,

Table 3Constraints and challenges before crop production in Haryanaa

Crops Constraints

Rice Inadequate irrigation due to decline in water table and poor discharge of tubewells. Canal water supply is alsonot sufficient. In some parts the quality of ground water is not goodIncreasing problems of salinity and alkalinityDeclining soil fertility due to depletion of major and micronutrients (N, P and Zn) due to continuous rice–wheatcropping systemDeterioration of physico-chemical soil conditions because of heavy tillage and puddlingImbalanced use of fertilisersDelayed and prolonged transplanting of riceExcessive cultivation of basmati rice, susceptible to diseases and insect pests but produced to get a good priceHeavy losses due to diseases and insect–pests such as bacterial leaf blight blast, stem-rot, false smut, leaf folderand stem-borer

Wheat Late planting of wheat (10–15% up to 25 December, 40% after 25 December)Weeds are a serious problem. Phalar is minor from 2000 to 6000 plants per m2

Reduced soil fertility, both major and micro-nutrients and soil organic matterIncrease in soil salinity/alkalinity particularly in western districtsIncreasing problem of disease in popular varieties such as HD2329 and HD2285. Besides rusts, now heavyincidence of leaf blight is also seen

a Source: Indian Council of Agricultural Research, 1998.

floods, and droughts, due to inefficient agriculturalpractices, and deforestation has caused excessive soilerosion (Gill, 1992; Randhawa, 1992). The increas-ing demand for food, fodder, fibre and fuel can onlybe met through bringing more of these degraded ar-eas into cultivation and forestry. Sensing the gravityof the problem, the Government of India has set upa National Wastelands Development Board (NWDB)with the objective of bringing all the wastelands un-der productive use in the country through a massiveprogramme of afforestation.

Based on national classification of the differenttypes and categories of wastelands, two major typeshave been considered in this study: culturable waste-land, and non-culturable wasteland. Haryana hasabout 7.54% of land under these categories in total.The largest area comprises sandy stretches in Sirsa,

100 R.B. Singh / Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 82 (2000) 97–103

Hissar and Bhiwani which encompasses 3.76% of cul-turable wasteland. Salt affected areas, mainly alkalinein nature, and waterlogged and marshy areas, compriseapproximately 1.6 and 0.6% of culturable wastelandrespectively. The main concentration of both the cate-gories is found in Ambala, Karnal, Jind, Sonepat andHissar. Wastelands related to undulating landforms aremainly found in Faridabad, Gurgaon, Mahendragarh,Bhiwani and Hissar comprise about 0.3% of land.Barren land has spread over Faridabad, Gurgaon andMahendergarh covers about 1.4% of land.

4.1. Improved land use and nutrient management

There is a marked change in soil fertility causedby changes in agricultural practices during the GreenRevolution (Table 4). To exemplify, 3% of soil in 1980had a low P content and by 1995 a low P content wasfound in 73% of soil, whilst the area of soil with a lowN content only increased from 89 to 91%. Soils witha high K content have decreased from 91% in 1980 to61% in 1995. The wheat–rice rotation is disturbing thebalance of available nutrients in the soil and also caus-ing a deficiency of micronutrients, particularly zincand copper (Gill, 1992). To improve production spe-cific soil–water–fertiliser–crop management practicesneed to be evolved based upon comprehensive soilresource information. Research of various aspects ofpollution of soil, water and environment, fertilisers,salinity, insecticides, pesticides and industrial efflu-ents should be intensified. Some critical environmen-tal issues including soil erosion, generation of dust,

Table 4Changes in N, P and K status in Haryana soilsa

Availablenutrients

Nutrientstatus

Distribution of N, P and K

1980 (%) 1995 (%)

Nitrogen Low 89.3 91.5Medium 9.6 7.9High 1.1 0.6

Phosphorus Low 3.3 73.0Medium 95.3 25.4High 1.4 1.6

Potassium Low – 5.3Medium 8.1 33.2High 91.1 61.5

a Source: Indian Council of Agricultural Research, 1998.

and soil compaction due to heavy machinery have alsoemerged.

The cultivation of wheat and rice in rotation hasbeen accepted by the farmers as the best combina-tion for getting maximum benefit from cultivation.Thus, the success of diversification and implicationsof the ecological imbalance of the wheat–rice rota-tion should be understood. To ease the wheat–ricestress on natural resources, some farmers have diver-sified to other crops like soybean (Glycine max) andsunflower (Helianthum spp.). A greater area couldbe diverted to sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum),cotton, oilseeds, and soybean. Even fishery and dairyenterprises have proved very promising for economicreturns. To increase diversification more emphasisneeds to be given to multipurpose plant species in-cluding grass and legumes (Singh, 1999). Land with30% or more slope in northern hilly part of thestate should be exclusively reserved for forest. Othertypes of waste materials obtainable from poultry,duckery, fishery and bee-keeping should be incorpo-rated. Medicinal plants, oil plants and horticulturalspecies should also be added. In recent years, organicchemicals and bio-techniques such as tissue culturetechnology are also being used to develop plants withresistance/tolerance and reduce the use of pesticides.

4.2. Ground water use and declining water table

Approximately 95–98% of the area under rice–wheat is irrigated. Irrigation from ground water ac-counts for 60–65% of the total irrigation requirementand the remaining 35–40% is met through canals.This intensive exploitation has caused the ground wa-ter problems. While in many areas the ground watertable is rising (as discussed earlier). Many districtsin the rice–wheat growing area of Haryana show awater table decline in the range 3–10 m. These dis-tricts are Kurukshetra (10 m), Ambala (3 m), Yamuna-nagar (3 m), Kaithal (3 m), Karnal (5 m), Panipat (5 m).An integrated use of ground water and surface waterresources should be the basis for future planned irri-gation on which sustainable crop production depends.

4.3. Impact on ground water quality

The use of agro-chemicals in Haryana is the highestin India. Fertiliser consumption has increased from 3

R.B. Singh / Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 82 (2000) 97–103 101

to 130 kg ha−1 in the last 30 years. Fertiliser use forrice and wheat is 160 and 170 kg ha−1, respectively.There is an imbalance in the N, P and K consumptionratio in rice–wheat crops. The use of K is also low inthis region. There is a definite trend in accumulationof nitrates to toxic levels in the ground water.

5. Need for land and water conservation

The monitoring of land and water detects signifi-cant changes in the soil characteristics that directly orindirectly affect the quality of the land and its abilityto produce the basic needs of food, fibre and timber.An integrated assessment of the status and risk of soildegradation will produce one of the essential datasets for national understanding (Singh, 1997). Theobjectives for producing a soil degradation map areto identify the dangers resulting from inappropriateland and soil management; to improve the capabilityin regional and national institutions; and to deliveraccurate information for agricultural planning pur-poses. Other states and centre funded work includesreclamation of salt and alkaline affected lands, fieldchannel and water channels (warabandi) constructionwork (Alexander, 1985).

Soil reclamation and land leveling are prominent inthe annual plan for Haryana. The Planning Commis-sion has allocated funds for the development of cultur-able as well as non-culturable wasteland and variouschemical inputs have been allocated for the land. LandReclamation and Development Boards are engaged inthis task and also provide subsidies for agriculturalinputs in Haryana.

The districts of Hissar, Rohtak and Gurgaon havebeen largely reclaimed through different develop-mental programmes initiated by the Government ofHaryana. The committee on Natural Resources, Plan-ning Commission, New Delhi’s study on wastelands,including saline, alkaline and waterlogged land andtheir reclamation measures has estimated that about6000, 4000 and 2000 ha of land affected by salinityand alkalinity were reclaimed in the Hissar, Rohtakand Gurgaon districts, respectively. As general char-acteristics the alkali soils of Haryana have a highpH value of average 9.3, with a higher proportion ofsodium bicarbonate in the upper 1 m depth and negli-gible infiltration rates. On an average depth of 1.5 m

the soils have a calcic horizon, thus signifying thepresence of pedogenic calcium carbonate. The taskof desalinisation in such soil is quite formidable. Thelow percolation also leads to rapid waterlogging.

Various agencies are taking stock of the salinisa-tion and various remedial measures are being plannedto regenerate the wastelands. Studies are being car-ried out by the Ministries of Environment and For-est, Agriculture, the Planning Commission, NationalCommission on Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture,Universities and various other agencies on wastelanddevelopment. There is an urgent need to create aware-ness among people for prudent use of land resourcesby implementing action-oriented projects and to re-claim wastelands. Policies can be formed to shift landuse from traditional to modern technical use. An at-tempt should be made not only to increase productionbut also to sustain the increased production for wheatand rice without further degradation of our naturalresources. The reclamation measures required to betaken up for restoration of physical health of soils andits productivity are outlined below.

5.1. Re-enrichment of inherent fertility andagroforestry

The re-enrichment of inherent fertility approach isbased upon the regeneration of internal resources tosustain land productivity. This is to be achieved bygrowing different crops together, mixing or rotatingwith legumes, planting trees and shrubs, whose rootsdraw nutrients from deep layers to help translocationof the nutrients and water to the root zone thus in-creasing operative soil depths. Agroforestry may beevolved along with compatible livestock managementboth of land and water and integrated land and waterdevelopment plan for various biomass production,regeneration of land resource base and increase inemployment and income. Agroforestry develops onnatural principles through crop–tree combination andintegrated fertility management (Gordon and Bentley,1990; Singh, 1999).

5.2. Management of water resources

The extensive micro measures for conservationand augmentation of scarce moisture play the mostcritical role as well as being the best motivation to

102 R.B. Singh / Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 82 (2000) 97–103

achieve participation from local people. The systemsinclude in situ moisture conservation and a networkof small water harvesting structures that promote re-current recharge of the soil profile as well as groundwater. Many governmental and non-governmental ini-tiatives are being taken in this direction (Gill, 1992).These include narrowing down the gap between sup-ply and demand for water resources; recharging ofground water reservoirs in areas with declining watertable; recharging of excess water through the existingdrainage channels by putting bunds at appropriateplaces; recharging by diverting run-off from adjoiningwasteland area; recharging through empty/injectionwells; recharging by diverting excess canal waterduring the rainy season to paddy fields; watersheddevelopment and massive reforestation of hilly areas;installation of skimming wells to tap good quality wa-ter; installation of deep tube wells along with riversto enhance the irrigation supply; revision of waterallowance, capacity factors and rotational system ofirrigation keeping in view the shifting of croppingsystem; efficient on-farm water management includ-ing adoption of optimum irrigation schedule of crops;encouraging low water consumption crops in place ofpaddy, particularly, in light textured soils (crops suchas soybean, cotton, maize, barley and oats). All thesemeasures have great potentials with regard to conjunc-tive use of poor quality ground water and canal water.

The soil conservation planning of the area should beon macro-watershed basis rather than micro-watershedbasis. Thus, physical planning of watersheds, thesocio-economic details would come from target groupvillage/community (Singh, 1998).

6. Conclusions

In the Haryana state much progress was made inagricultural productivity, but at the cost of land andwater degradation. Intensive agriculture during theGreen Revolution has brought significant land and wa-ter problems relating to soil degradation over exploita-tion of ground water and soil pollution due to the usesof high doses of fertilisers and pesticides. Land andwater conservation is an important concern not onlyto the farmers and the rural communities in Haryanabut also to the country as a whole. Conservation ofthese resources is essential for sustainable agricul-

tural development. The future food grain requirementof India in 2010 will show an increase amounting to269× 106 Mg over 211× 106 Mg in 2000.

An attempt should be made not only to increase theproduction but also to sustain the increased productionwithout further degradation of the natural resources.Possible reclamation measures are required to be takenup for restoration of physical health of soils and itsproductivity. By analysing the shift in cropped areaand cropping pattern, it is quite evident that monocul-tures are the dominant systems as the shift has takenplace from jowar, bajra, to rice during Kharif (summercropping) season and wheat has replaced crops suchas barley and gram during Rabi (winter cropping) sea-son due to an expansion of irrigation facilities in thesestates. People prefer high yielding and more remuner-ative crops like wheat and rice, although barley andgram are still grown in rainfed areas. Although somediversification, and the productivity and profitability ofcrop husbandry continues to be an integral part of theexisting cropping pattern, wheat and rice with highestgrowth yields per hectare, and high economic returns,will continue to be dominant. In the light of this, in-centives for checking environmental degradation (soil,water and biodiversity, etc.) caused by the growth ofthese crops should be encouraged through incentivepackages.

Diversification of agriculture to increase the per-centage area under agroforestry, oilseeds and pulsesis being encouraged. Sunflower is becoming a promi-nent crop among the oilseeds; its water requirementis quite high. Although the sugarcane area has beensubstantially increased, it has not reduced pressure onground water. The region has been achieving regene-ration of wastelands by improving irrigation facilitieswith a degree of success mainly on plain areas. Tech-nologies for managing soil problems and suitabilityof poor quality ground water for different crops andcropping system need to be refined. To optimise re-sults from the reclamation of degraded areas, there isa need to create awareness of soil degradation and theimportance of soil development. The integrated andsustainable monitoring and management of agricul-ture and forestry requires a focus on the issues such ascollection and effective utilisation of land and waterinventory data for land use planning, nutrient man-agement, increased biomass productivity and needfor diversification, re-enrichment of inherent fertility

R.B. Singh / Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 82 (2000) 97–103 103

and agroforestry, moisture conservation and waterharvesting, the recharging of ground water reservoirsin areas of water table decline, and agro-industrialwatershed based planning. In this way, understandingof environmental consequences of agricultural devel-opment helps to illustrate the nature and complexityof forces driving the change and now these imply theconcerns for food security of the region.

Acknowledgements

For the significant help, editing and critique, I ex-press my sincere thanks and gratitude to Ms. HelenShaw (GCTE Focus 3 Office). The author is also verygrateful to John Ingram for providing opportunity topresent the paper at GCTE Conference, The Universityof Reading, and for giving valuable comments andsuggestions on the paper.

References

Alexander, T.M., 1985. Soils of India and Their Management. TheFertiliser Association of India, New Delhi.

Gill, J.S., 1992. Land use, conservation, management and deve-lopment of land resources of Punjab. In: Report of Departmentof Soil Conservation and Engineering, Chandigarh, Punjab.

Gordon, J.C., Bentley, W.R., 1990. A Handbook on the Manage-ment of Agroforestry Research. Winrock Institute, New Delhi.

Government of Punjab, 1992. Report of Department of SoilConservation and Engineering, Chandigarh, Punjab,.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research, 1998. Decline in CropProductivity in Haryana and Punjab: Myth or Reality, NewDelhi.

Kumar, R., Pasricha, N.S., 1999. Land use and land cover changesin the Indus plains of Punjab in the post Green Revolutionperiod 1965–1995. In: Proceedings of the International Seminaron Historical Perspectives of Land-use/Land-cover Change inSouth Asia for the Study of Global Change, April 11–13, 1999.NPL, New Delhi.

Randhawa, N.S., 1992. Concerns about sustainability of Punjabagriculture on land use, conservation and development ofland resources in Punjab. In: Report of Department of SoilConservation and Engineering, Punjab, Chandigarh.

Sharma, B.D., Mukhopadhyay, S.S., 1999. Land cover and landuse: Punjab perspectives. In: Proceedings of the InternationalSeminar on Historical Perspectives of Land-use Land-coverChange in South Asia for the Study of Global Change, April11–13, 1999. NPL, New Delhi.

Singh, R.B., 1997. Impact of agriculture and land use/cover changeon soil and water resources and ecosystem sustainability: acase study of Punjab. In: Epps, R. (Ed.), Sustainability of RuralSystem in the Context of Global Change. University of NewEngland, Armidale.

Singh, R.B., 1998. Understanding high mountain land use towardssustainable environmental management in Jammu and Kashmir.In: Haigh, M.J., et al. (Eds.), Headwaters: Water Resourcesand Soil Conservation. Oxford and IBH Publishing Co.,New Delhi.

Singh, R.B., 1999. Land use change, diversification of agricultureand agro-forestry in northwest India. In: Haque, T (Ed.),Land Use Planning in India. National Centre for AgriculturalEconomics and Policy Research, New Delhi.