What Was the Green Revolution and Did It Live up to Its Promise of Tackling Hunger - Research Paper Example

Running head: GREEN EVOLUTION Introduction The high demand for food in the contemporary world has been caused by the high population in the 20th and 21st centuries. In their efforts to curb the shortage of food and reduce starvation, developing countries have continued to improve their agricultural activities. One of the major aspects that have been emulated by developed states is high level of agricultural technology. This has not only contributed to an increment in the food production locally, but also it has enabled developed countries to offer food donation to third world countries. Around 1960 and 1990, an agricultural initiative referred to as Green revolution was a major aspect that had various implications on the hunger in the world as well as farming activities in various countries. This paper candidly defines what is Green revolution as well as examining whether the revolution lived up its promise of tackling hunger. Green revolution entails various researches and technology transfer that were initiated between 1960 and 1990 in order to improve agricultural productivity and address hunger situation around the world (Glaeser, 1978). Due to the implementation of effective strategies in the developing countries including Latin America and Asia, the production of agricultural produce such as maize, rice and wheat recorded a tremendous increment. Green revolution, an initiative that was pioneered by Norman Borlaug played a major role of developing wide range of cereal grains, which significantly saved people around the world from starvation (Curtis et al, 1988). Other essential aspects that led to increment of the cereal production includes distribution of seeds that were of hybrid, giving pesticides to farmers, improvement of irrigation methods and adoption of modern techniques of management. Causes of revolution High yielding types of seeds One of the major causes of the green revolution was the heavy investment that was put in the production of high yielding varieties of seeds (HYV). As a result, farmers were able to produce high produce due to the high resistance of the seeds. Bunders (1990) depicts that During the green revolution, the high yielding varieties of maize, bajra, wheat and paddy were effectively developed by use appropriate technologies. Chemical Fertilizers Chemical fertilize is another vital aspect that led to the expansion of agricultural activities thus resulting to an increment of food production. One of the key aspects that were emulated by various countries globally was the increment of financial resources that were budgeted for expansion of fertilizer industry. For example, in India 9.04 million tonnes of fertilizer was produced in 1991. Compared with 0.13 million tonnes that was produced in 1951, this was a significant increment that played a vital role of expanding the food production (Dahlberg, 1979). In the same way, government authorities encouraged farmers to use fertilizer thus leading to consumption of the fertilizer. For example, in 1991 13 million tonnes of fertilizer was consumed up from 5.51 million tonnes that was consumed in 1981. Improvement of irrigation techniques It is important to note that one of the major factors that lead to increment of food production is availability of water. Due to the problems caused by lack of adequate rainfall in some regions in the world, various organizations and ministries of agriculture in developing and third world countries embarked on expansion of irrigation techniques as an avenue of addressing food shortage (Lappe & Collins, 1977). Criticism of green revolution Despite the major achievements of the initiatives that led to the increased food production as the result of Green revolution, a number of issues came up in 1970 that questioned the effectiveness of green revolution in solving the food problems in the world. Most of the criticism was related to the socioeconomic and ecological implications that the movement had on the society and the environment. This was based on the various activities that were emulated in order to increase the yield. These included increasing the usage of fertilizers, use of irrigation schemes, intensive use of pesticides and other chemicals that are adopted to increase food supply. In addition, governments advocated the use of machines during planting and harvesting (Bennholdt et al, 2001). However, a major criticism that resulted from the use of machines is that peasant farmers could not afford the machines due to the high level of poverty. In the same way, the poverty situation deterred the farmers from purchasing fertilizers and pesticides thus making the wealthy farmers to be advantaged. Role of Green revolution in solving problems faced in developing countries Conway (1998) notes that due to high population and poverty level in most developing countries particularly in Africa, introduction of technology in the agriculture was faced with a lot of challenges. In addition, the high level of corruption, poor security and inadequate infrastructure are major factors that affected the implementation of green revolution. In their efforts to reduce the negative implications of hunger and starvation in Africa, developed countries have continued to introduce high yielding varieties of cereals so as to improve food production in Africa. For example, New rice of Africa (NERICA) is one of the major varieties of rice that generates high yield, being tried to be intyroduced in Western Africa. Barraclough (1991) argues that proper methods of irribation are put in place and reasonable amount of fertilizer is used, the rice can yield large aoumt of yields that can greatly adress food shortage in Africa. The major problem faced in the process of establishing this variety of rice in Africa is due to lack of accesibility of rice seeds by the farmers. However, some countries such as Guinea have effectively adopted NERICA (De la Perrierre & Seuret, 2000). This has resulted to an increment of rice production in untry. Technologies in Green revolution As mentioned earlier, technologies played a vital role of ensuring that appropriate methods were put in place to increase food production. These technologies included modern irrigation methods, pesticides and fertilizers. In the same way, due to adoption of science-based techniques of agriculture, varieties of crops which were resistant to diseases and bad weather were established. One of the major implications of the green revolution that enhanced production of food was development of wheat cultivars. Additionally, through crossing two varieties of rice which include Dee-geo-woo-gen and Peta which comes from China and Indonesia respectively, IR8 rice was developed (Hobbelink et al, 1990). It is important to note economic and social problems that are faced by developing countries greatly contribute to low level of agricultural activities leading to inadequate food production. One of issues that made the green revolution not to be quite effective in eliminating hunger in the world is that it missed to exhaustively use marginal lands in poor countries for agricultural activities. The major initiatives that were undertaken by developed countries during the green revolution was the use of test plots in order to come up with quality seed varieties that ensured increment in food production. One of the major region that adopted test plots was Mexico. These plots played a major role during the production of varieties of wheat. According to Bernstein et al (1990) key initiative that led to effective distribution of high yield varieties of seed was International Agricultural Research Centers, an organization that was established by Rockefeller and Ford Foundations. The use of the high quality seeds and machinery was a major factor that led to the replacement of the traditional farming practices with modern methods of farming (Dreze and Sen, 1989). The development of the new seeds led to huge production of food in most parts of the world. For example, in 1990s 75% of the rice that was produced in Asia was grown using the new seeds. Other areas including Asia and Latin America revealed similar results (Bernstein et al, 1992). Modern farming methods One of the chief aspects that made green revolution to be significant in elimination of hunger and promotion of sustainable food production was the emulation of modern machines and technologies as mentioned earlier (Bunders and Broerse, 1991). However, the revolution has not been successful in ending the hunger. This was based on the fact that the revolution narrowly focused on increasing food production. In this way, it failed to address other issues such purchasing power, land accesibility and distribution of financial resources that are also significant in eliminating hunger. According to Sen (1975) steady increase of food production does not necessarily lead to less hunger. Hunger can also be addressed by redistributing resources and enhancing purchasing power of the people who poor and hungry. Socioeconomic impacts Despite the criticism of the green revolution in the eradication of hunger especially in third world countries, the revolution greatly contributed to the establishment of credit institution particularly in the rural areas. This was based on the fact that, the revolution advocated for the purchase of inputs that were required to undertake farming activities in the rural areas. Through establishment of credit institutions, peasant farmers who could not access large amount of loan from big financial institutions greatly benefited. The financial assistance was used to finance the debts that the farmers experienced during farming activities in their farms. George (1977) argues that mechanization of agriculture during Green revolution had a negative implication in that it resulted to loss of employment especially in the rural areas. It is worth to note that before the revolution, majority of farmers were using human labour force to cultivate their farms. The use of labour force enhanced the income level of the peasant farmers. However, the introduction of machines caused a reduction of disposal income leading to low purchasing power and poverty. As mentioned earlier green revolution resulted to widening of the gap between the rich and the poor. One of the major causes of the economic differences that existed between the two social groups was based on the ability of the wealthy farmers to easily access loan and credit from financial institutions. In the same way, Dreze et al (1995) maintains that interregional economic disparities were also caused by the ability of some regions to adopt Green revolution more easily than others. For example, the political instabilities and geographical aspects that faced some African countries hindered the expansion of agricultural activities in those regions. This did not only result to low food production in such areas but it increased food dependency rate from other developed countries. Another notable implication of the Green revolution is that it led to rural-urban migration (Leathers & Foster, 2004). This was based on the economic difficulties that were faced by the peasant farmers in the rural regions. It is worth to note that in the regions where Green revolution was effectively applied, food production in the rural areas was increased thus resulting to low food prices in the urban areas. Effects of Green revolution on globalization A major implication of Green revolution is that it has enhanced development of research centers that are vital in sharing of information across many countries in the world. In addition, the research groups are important in improving agricultural activities. As stipulated by Grigg (1993) major groups that were initiated to ensure development of agriculture include Rockefeller Foundation, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Ford Foundation. In order to ensure effective provision of inputs that was used in various parts of the world during Green revolution, international chemical and seed companies benefited from the ready markets. This resulted to the expansion of the local firms from local to international level. A good example of a firm that benefited from the green revolution was Standard Oil, a New Jersey based firm that produced large quantity of pesticides and fertilizer to meet high demand of the input in new Philippine market (George, 1990). Effects of Green revolution on biodiversity Based on the fact that Green revolution relied on few high yielding crops, it did not have significant implications in terms of reduction of agricultural diversity. As a result, the revolution led to loss of generic traits bred resulted to reduction of food production as well as spread of crops that were highly susceptible to diseases. In their efforts to curb these problems, many countries embarked establishment of research centers that also act as seed bank. An example of a seed bank is the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research’s (CGIAR) (Pearse, 1980). In order to analyze the effects of the revolution on the biodiversity, various agricultural analysts came up with diversified views. For example, some individuals speculated that if total production per unit of land in increased, agricultural activities does not need to be emulated in other areas that are unexploited (Davis, 2001). This means that countries do not need to increase food production by attending their uncultivated lands. Despite this argument, the establishment of machines and improved method of cultivation during the Green revolution motivated the farmers to clear up forests with an aim of increasing food production. Bridgstock (1998) argues that lack of undertaking farming activities in uncultivated areas resulted to depletion of soil nutrients and land degradation. This also resulted to clearing of uncultivated lands. Another hypothesis argues that biodiversity did not occur since the traditional methods of farming that were replaced by new methods during Green revolution were effective in preserving wild diversity. Conclusion From the above discussion, it is evident that despite the positive repercussion and wide range of criticism of the Green revolution, scientists did not much from the food problems that faced the world in 1960s. For example, in their efforts to ensure high food production in the world and eliminate the negativities that were brought up by the Green revolution, various initiatives were established. One such example was the Farming Systems Research (FSR). FSR did not achieve more since just like the green revolution it did not take reasonable consideration of the issues affecting small-scale farmers in the developing countries (Kent, 1984). The above discussion also depicts various negative implications on the social, political and economic situation of the developing countries that were generated by the green revolution. For example, instead of assisting the peasant farmers to access financial assistance that was needed to purchase inputs required in farming activities the revolution embarked on benefiting the wealthy farmers. Despite some efforts the revolution made particularly in establishing machines in the agriculture sector, many people are still faced with hunger in various parts of the world. This implies that Green revolution did not live to its promise of tackling hunger. This has resulted to poor countries relying on the food donation and imports from developed countries. In order to avoid the mistakes that occurred during Green revolution that affected the distribution of farming activities especially in the third word countries, it is imperative for the modern biotechnologists to investigate other avenues of addressing world hunger rather than entirely relying on biotechnology (Ellis & Freeman, 2004). In order to ensure food produced in the world effectively eliminated the hunger it is vital for intervention of the government for instance in improving the purchasing power of the consumers. In addition, it is essential for world governments to involve small-scale farmers when designing policies that affects agricultural sector. This is based on the importance of the small-scale farmers in addressing food scarcity in rural areas. In the same way, it is appropriate for governments to offer incentives that motivate peasant farmers. For example, more financial assistance and credits should be made available to rural farmers. 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