Green Revolution

Origin

The Green Revolution was the rapid rise in food-grain output from the mid-1960s that came from a package of high-yielding varieties (HYVs), chemical fertilisers, pesticides and assured irrigation. The American agronomist Norman Borlaug developed dwarf, disease-resistant wheat in Mexico and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. The term "Green Revolution" was used by William Gaud of USAID in 1968. In India the programme was led by scientists such as M. S. Swaminathan, with policy support from C. Subramaniam. Rice variety IR8 came from the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.

How it worked

HYV seeds are short-stemmed, so they do not fall over (lodge) when heavily fertilised, and they respond strongly to fertiliser and water. They therefore need a package: irrigation (tube wells, canals), NPK fertilisers, pesticides, credit and minimum support prices. The effect was greatest in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, and mainly in wheat, later rice.

Impacts

• Economic: India moved from food imports to self-sufficiency in grains and built buffer stocks; farm incomes in irrigated regions rose.
• Environmental: falling groundwater tables from tube-well over-use; waterlogging and salinity in canal areas; loss of soil organic matter and micronutrients; pesticide residues and biomagnification; loss of traditional crop varieties (genetic erosion); stubble burning in rice–wheat systems.
• Social: benefits went mostly to large farmers with irrigation and credit, widening inter-regional and inter-personal inequality; pulses, millets and dryland farmers were neglected; mechanisation reduced some labour demand.

Key points

• Package: HYV seeds + irrigation + fertilisers + pesticides + credit.
• Main crop: wheat; main region: Punjab, Haryana, western UP.
• Key names: Borlaug (global), Swaminathan (India).
• Gains in food security came with soil, water and equity costs.

Common mistakes

• Thinking HYVs give high yields without water and fertiliser; they need the full package.
• Assuming all crops gained equally; pulses and coarse grains were largely left out.
• Calling the Green Revolution a dairy programme (that is Operation Flood).