Political Dimensions of Agricultural Innovation and the Green Revolution in India: Presentation

8/7/2019 Political Dimensions of Agricultural Innovation and the Green Revolution in India: Presentation

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THE GREEN

REVOLUTION

POLITICAL DIMENSIONS OF

AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION


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Antecedents

Green Revolution commonly recognized as the

introduction and subsequent promulgation of HYV seeds

in Pakistan and on the Indian Subcontinent, particularly inPunjab province and the greater Punjab region.

The mainstay of the green revolution is the application of

modern technology, centered on high yielding varieties [of

seeds], in tropical and sub-tropical agricultural

environments.- Kazuo Sait


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Antecedents

Green Revolution can be traced back to the establishmentof the Office of Special Studies in Mexico in 1943

Directly involved were the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico andVice-President Henry Wallace

Took the form of a joint venture between the Mexicangovernment and the Rockefeller foundation

The directors of the program invited Norman Borlaug to jointhe research team in 1944

Previously, Borlaug was doing classified wartime laboratoryresearch for Dupont

Miracle seeds come into existence in 1954, with Borlaugacknowledged as their intellectual architect

Received the Nobel Prize in 1970 for a new world situationwith regard to nutrition.


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Antecedents The Indian Subcontinent

Principal concern of Indian farmers is to feed their families;

whats known as subsistence farming

Primary crops therefore tend to be foodgrains (rice,

wheat, millets, maize and barley)

These crops constitute 70 90 percent of peoples caloric

requirements

75 percent of cropped land in India is used for the production

of these foodgrains

The Indian Punjab most directly affected by the Green

Revolution

Or, as some call it, its greatest success


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Image Copyright 1993 Vandana Shiva

The Violence of The Green Revolution,Zed Books , London.


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Image Copyright 1993 Vandana ShivaThe Violence of The Green Revolution,Zed Books , London.


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Indian farming and the sub-continent at large famine-

prone (?/!)

Several major famines under British rule such as theBengal Famine of 1943

Bengal Famine estimated to have resulted in 4 million

deaths

The Bihar Famine of 1966-1967

Were the deficiencies of Indias agricultural system

endogenous/systemic or exogenous/imposed?

Monocausal or multivariate?


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Famine and drought created an established political

interest in:

Food Security

Regional agricultural sustainability (as opposed to simply

raising national aggregate output levels)

Increase in agricultural productivity became part of the

public agenda

How can agricultural output be increased?


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Agricultural Output

Yield

Acreage


Yield: Labor, Farming Technique, Irrigation and Fertilizers

Acreage: Aggregate land area devoted to agricultural

purposes


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Most agriculturally viable land in India is occupied, leaving

yield augmentation as only alternative to raising output

Numerous attempts already made at trying to improveyield before Green Revolution

Imported seed varieties generally failed due to the

particulars of the growing environment

Indigenous seeds respond poorly to fertilizers and other

inputs


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HYV Seed introduction began with five major types:

Rice, Wheat, Maize, Jowar, Bajra

Essential qualities separating these types from standardyield variants:

More responsive to fertilizer

Yield per unit of fertilizer is higher

Drought resistance and adapted to a wide latitudinal range

Short growing period; occasionally a second major crop canbe planted

Yields generally 2 to 4 times of indigenous varieties

Wide scale implementation in 1966/1967


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Copyright 1973 A.K. ChakravartiGreen Revolution in India, Annals of the Association ofAmerican Geographers

Vol. 63. No. 3, September 1973


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Copyright 1973 A.K. ChakravartiGreen Revolution in India, Annals of the Association ofAmerican Geographers

Vol. 63. No. 3, September 1973


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The Science/Politics Connection

The Green Revolution was seen as a potentially useful tool in

reducing agrarian conflict by creating rural abundance.

The Asian peasantry at the time seen as incipientrevolutionaries and members of a potential communist

insurgency

The Colombo Plan of 1952

Agrarian reform was required to happen on the basis of

scientific and technological innovations


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The Special Studies Bureau created at the behest of the U.S.foreign policy establishment and funded by the RockefellerFoundation (Shiva, P. 32)

Three major groups of international agencies wereresponsible in transferring the American model of agriculture toIndia (Shiva, P. 29):

Private American Foundations

Research, Training, Funding

U.S. Government

Logistical Support, Grants, Training

World Bank

Credit


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Initial introduction of HYV seeds to India coincided with ashift in U.S. aid policy toward the third world

P.L. 480, a law under which the U.S. helped alleviate foodshortages in the third world through sale of domesticagricultural commodities on credit or grant terms

L.B.J. reversed this policy and stipulated certainrequirements for countries that wished to be eligible forfood aid the so-called short tether policy (Cleaver, P.

179) Faced with consecutive food shortages and an impending

food crisis in 1965-66, the Indian government was forcedinto accepting U.S. capital into the country


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Green Revolution not simply a shift in agricultural

methods but a change in farming ideology

Indian farming traditionally based on preserving andbuilding on natures processes. (Shiva, P. 26)

Fluctuations in output and production (arguably) based on

interruptions in the flow of resources that made

productivity possible. (Siva, P. 26)

i.e. Land Alienation, Forest Reservation, Cash CropCultivation etc.


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The Green Revolution was based on the assumption thattechnology is a superior substitute for nature, and hence ameans of producing limitless growth, unconstrained by natures

limits. (Shiva, P. 24)

Technological transformation of farming methods clearly mustresult in widespread social change in a rural society

The Green Revolution was capital intensive and reliedheavily on external inputs

Most requisite capital could only be provided by foreignersdue to the disparity in technological development

Eventually led to increased competition;disenfranchisement of local input providers etc.


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The Science/Politics Connection Subsistence farming as traditionally practiced by farmers in the

Indian Punjab is difficult to continue due to marketdependence

The farmer must buy manufactured inputs and sell part of

his crop to buy more inputs for the next growing cycle HYV seeds need large amounts of fertilizer and pesticides

HYV seeds could only be planted in regions that were alreadycomparatively well-developed because of the need for anassured irrigation supply

This serves to accentuate regional economic disparities aswell as inter-class conflicts, e.g. between the landed andlandless

It also leads to reliance of less developed areas on thosewhich are better developed


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Rapid decline in returns on investment led to widespread

disillusionment amongst Punjabi farmers

1971, Returns on Investment were 27% 1978, Returns sink to less than two percent

Even larger farmers began to experience indebtedness

and economic dislocation

In the areas most affected by the Green Revolution, the

proportion of people below a bare minimum level of livingactually increased. (Bardhan, P. 1062-1063)


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No mention made so far concerning the ecological aspects

Loss of genetic diversity

Over fertilization

Soil erosion

Water conflicts

Environmental and ecological issues, particularly in agrarian

societies, are always political


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Outlook for Final Paper

History, Development, Inception

Focus on immediate social and political impact, particularly the

domestic aspects

The Green Revolution as Science Governance

How were scientific development adapted to serve political

agendas?

To what extent was the Green Revolution truly political? Success or failure? (Both as political instrument and as

technological innovation)


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Documents

Political Dimensions of Agricultural Innovation and the Green Revolution in India: Presentation