Evaluation of Agricultural Green Revolution - Research Paper Example

AN EVALUATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL GREEN REVOLUTION Email address: AN EVALUATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL GREEN REVOLUTION ABSTRACT Increasing population has increased the pressure on agriculture and has demanded the higher production of food. In order to fulfill the needs of the growing population, agricultural activities have undergone several transformations over the years. Green revolution is among the recent agricultural transformations that helped several countries to achieve food security and increase the yield from agriculture. The green revolution has been of great help in satisfying the need of the exploding population especially in the developing countries such as India and China. In fact agriculture is given top priority in these countries and their economy is greatly dependent on the agricultural development. Green revolution has been a blessing until recent years when the negative impact of these technologies has emerged. This paper discusses the concept of green revolution, its benefits and risks of this technology. AN EVALUATION OF THE AGRICULTURAL GREEN REVOLUTION Introduction Food security has been an issue of concern in many of the developing countries. In fact it can be said that the problems related to food security have been a major cause of concern to mankind. In the past the food needs of growing populations were met especially by expanding the cultivated area. There were farming communities that cultivated in a particular place for few years and then later abandon the land for several years. However, as the most fertile land became scarce, researchers and agriculturists found that expansion of agricultural land for increasing production was not a good option for the future years. Further expansion meant bringing poorer and lower yielding land into cultivation. Hence it was found in 1960s that the present levels of production cannot sustain the population and maintaining food production per capita was a challenging task (Evenson, N.D). The Green Revolution came as a boon to mankind and was a major turning point in agriculture. It helped to increase the food production predominantly by getting better strains of wheat, rice, maize and other cereals in the 1960s. The revolution as such began in 1945 when the Rockefeller Foundation and the Mexican government established the Cooperative Wheat Research and Production Program to improve the agricultural output. Dr Norman Borlaug is the father of green revolution and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for developing this technology (Parks, N.D.). Green revolution is the breeding of new plant varieties and the application of modern agricultural techniques such as use of chemical fertilizers, irrigation, use of heavy machinery and control of pests and diseases using synthetic pesticides. Probably without the use of Green Revolution technologies the basic food requirements of the world's current population would not have been possible. This technology is responsible for saving almost a billion human lives from starvation (Easterbrook, 1997). Green revolution technologies along with its gains also brought about several economic and ecological problems. Food security being one of the most important issues concerning mankind, the further increase in food production should be addressed with caution in the coming years. Benefits of Green Revolution The adoption of HYVs occurred quickly because farmers and researchers found a good yield from these varieties when compared to the traditional varieties. By 1970, about 20 percent of the wheat area and 30 percent of the rice area in developing countries were planted with the HYVs, and by 1990, the share had increased to about 70 percent for both crops which produced good yield. In fact it can be said that the basic yields of rice and wheat almost doubled. For instance, Mexico a country that adopted green revolution went from having to import half its wheat to self-sufficiency by 1956 and, by 1964, to exporting half a million tons of wheat. With success in a few countries, other developing countries also started using this technology. For instance, this program was continued in India and Pakistan where it is credited for satisfying the population from starvation. Higher yields and profitability also led farmers to increase the area of rice and wheat they grew at the expense of other crops. Some of these varieties were faster-growing varieties and with the improved irrigation facilities, farmers could grow more crops on their land each year. Green revolution helped the Asian countries to more than double cereal production in between 1970 and 1995, while population had also increased by 60 percent. Instead of widespread famine, cereal and calorie availability per person increased by nearly 30 percent, and wheat and rice became cheaper. Different countries had different experiences. For instance, Latin America experienced significant gains, but the impact in Sub-Saharan Africa was much more modest. Poor infrastructure, high transport costs, limited investment in irrigation, and pricing and marketing policies that penalized farmers made the Green Revolution technologies too expensive or inappropriate for much of Africa. The social impacts of green revolution on farmers included substantial increases in returns to land, thereby raising farmers' incomes. With greater income to spend, new needs for farm inputs and milling and marketing services of the farm families increased. As a result a general increase in demand for goods and services was observed. This stimulated the rural non-farm economy, which in turn grew and generated significant new income and employment of its own. Real per capita incomes almost doubled in Asia between 1970 and 1995, and poverty declined from nearly three out of every five Asians in 1975 to less than one in three by 1995. The absolute number of poor people fell from 1.15 billion in 1975 to 825 million in 1995 despite a 60 percent increase in population. In India, the percentage of the rural population living below the poverty line fluctuated between 50 and 65 percent before the mid-1960s but then declined steadily to about one-third of the rural population by 1993. Research studies show that much of this steady decline in poverty is attributable to agricultural growth and associated declines in food prices (International Food Policy Research Institute, 2002). The Green Revolution helped to feed countries like India that had suffered from chronic bouts of extreme hunger and also helped to increase the nutrition levels and production levels of farmers (Sachs, 2004). This technology contributed to better nutrition by raising incomes and reducing prices, which permitted people to consume more calories and a more diversified diet. The per capita consumption of vegetable oils, fruits, vegetables and livestock products in Asia saw a dramatic increase. Green Revolution and its Risks Though the green revolution brought about food security particularly in the developing nations, there are several problems that need to be addressed. Critics charged that the Green Revolution resulted in environmental degradation and increased income inequality, inequitable asset distribution, and worsened absolute poverty. Some of these criticisms are valid and need to be addressed. Critics of the Green Revolution argued that owners of large farms were the main adopters of the new technologies because of their better access to irrigation water, fertilizers, seeds and credit. Small farmers were either unaffected or harmed because the Green Revolution resulted in lower product prices and higher input prices. The Green Revolution encouraged farm mechanization that may result in pushing down rural wages and employment. The HYVs are highly responsive to irrigation, presence of soil nutrients and are more susceptible to pests and disease when compared to the local varieties. This resulted in increasing the input cost and affected the small farmers particularly in populated countries like India and China. This technology was most popular in the irrigated areas and the high-potential rainfed regions which resulted in regional inequalities (International Food Policy Research Institute, 2002). The Green Revolution has also been widely criticized for causing environmental damage. Excessive and inappropriate use of fertilizers and pesticides has polluted waterways, poisoned agricultural workers and killed beneficial insects and other wildlife. Irrigation practices have led to salt build-up and eventual abandonment of some of the best farming lands. Groundwater levels are retreating in areas where more water is being pumped for irrigation than can be replenished by the rains. Monoculture of commercially important crops is yet another problem and heavy dependence on a few major cereal varieties has led to loss of biodiversity on farms. Some of these outcomes were inevitable as millions of largely illiterate farmers began to use modern inputs for the first time. Inadequate extension and training, an absence of effective regulation encouraged excessive use of farm chemicals that created negative environmental impacts. Conclusion It took some 10,000 years to expand food production to the current level of about 5 billion tons per year. By 2025, we will have to nearly double current production again. This cannot be done unless farmers across the world have access to current high-yielding crop-production methods as well as new technological breakthroughs that can increase the yields, dependability, and nutritional quality of our basic food crops (Borlaug, 2000). The food production needs to double in developing countries and some 80 % of this increase will need to be gained from land that is already under production. There is a need to explore the role of science and technology in the coming decades to improve the quantity, quality and availability of food for all of the world's population. New technologies will also need to be economically and environmentally sustainable. It is necessary to building on the strengths of the Green Revolution while seeking to avoid its weaknesses. Scientists and policymakers can take significant steps toward achieving sustainable food security. The problems such as deforestation, salinization of irrigated soils, loss of biodiversity and depleting finite resources like land unless dealt seriously, the world is bound to face consequences. The present food production needs to increase to satisfy the growing population at the same time environmental stresses must be managed using sustainable and eco-friendly agricultural systems which help protect the fragile environment. References Borlaug, N.E. (2000) The Green Revolution Revisited and The Road Ahead. Special 30th Anniversary Lecture, The Norwegian Nobel Institute, Oslo, September 8, 2000. Retrieved November 25, 2008, from http://nobelprize.org/peace/articles/borlaug/borlaug-lecture.pdf Easterbrook, G. (1997) Forgotten Benefactor of Humanity. The Atlantic Monthly; January 1997; 279(1), 75-82. Evenson, R.E. (n.d) The Green Revolution in Developing Countries: An Economist's Assessment. Retrieved November 25, 2008, from http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN020402.pdf. International Food Policy Research Institute, (2002) Green Revolution - Curse or Blessing Retrieved November 26, 2008, from http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/ib/ib11.pdf Parks, W. (N.D.) Defining the Green Revolution Retrieved November 25, 2008, from http://wparks.myweb.uga.edu/ppt/green/index.htm Sachs, J.D. (2004) Meeting the Hunger Millennium Development Goal Retrieved November 25, 2008, from http://www.earth.columbia.edu/sitefiles/File/about/director/documents/MeetingtheHungerMillenniumDevelopmentGoal-NewDelhiFeb52004.pdf Read More