The Green Revolution: A Revolution That Saved Billions
In 1970, the Nobel peace prize was awarded to a person who saved the lives of more than a billion people.
He was Norman Borlaug, an agricultural scientist who is also known as the “Father of the Green Revolution.” The Green revolution was the beginning of a new era in the field of agriculture.
The Green Revolution:
The Green revolution is also known as the third agricultural revolution. It introduced the world to the agriculture reforms that changed the field of agriculture miraculously. The Green Revolution enabled the transfer of agricultural technology that ushered in an unbelievable change in the production of crops. The new technology coupled with high-yielding varieties of different crops, fertilizers, agrochemicals, pesticides, and managed water supply increased the production capacity of the crops. The production of crops increased because of the application of modern scientific methods of research and experimentation. Some scientists also tried to use genetic engineering to enhance the specific seed qualities to ramp up crop production.
Mexico’s Green Revolution:
Mexico was the first country to experiment with the Green Revolution. Therefore, Mexico is also known as the birthplace of the Green Revolution. The Mexican government and different international organization invested their resources in this new experiment. This experiment in Mexico was supposed to be a model for the other countries to follow. Walking on the path of modernization, Mexico brought in the technology, new agricultural methods, and favorable policies to make this experiment successful. The result was a success. Mexico became a country self-sufficient in food production; and thus, solved its problem of food insecurity.
Mexico took multiple critical decisions to revolutionize its agriculture. It received knowledge about agricultural practices from the scientists and researchers working in this field. Moreover, it was provided modern agricultural technology by developed countries like the US and international organizations. Farmers used the received knowledge and technology to cultivate their farms with the new breeds of plants. Agricultural scientists prepared new crop breeds of plants. The new crop breeds were more productive as compared to the usual crop breeds. With all these elements in place, Mexico started its agricultural experiment. It proved to be an extraordinary success. Productivity of crops increased by manifolds. In addition to this, Mexico also established research institutions. They continued to give their feedback and advice to improve the agricultural process.
The success of the Green Revolution spread throughout the world. Other nations also started to adopt the Green revolution. Two regions were most prominent in this regard: Asia and Africa.
The Green Revolution in India:
In Asia, India started its Green revolution program. In 1961, India was facing a mass famine. It seemed that India would face one of the worst famines of history. During this time, Norman Borlaug visited India. He helped to formulate new agricultural plans for India, India imported the new breeds of crops. Indian farmers planted the new crop breeds supported by the advanced irrigation system and agrochemicals. The Green Revolution was successful and saved the lives of many poor people. After that, India also imported IR8 rice produced in the Philippines. This new breed of rice was called miracle rice because it gave ten times more yield than the usual breeds of rice.
The Green Revolution in China:
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China also overturned its agricultural woes by its Green revolution. The Chinese government invested in agricultural research and formed policies that helped to ramp up the production of crops. China was also triumphant in increasing its crop yields through modern technology and advanced methods. In this way, China also solved the problem of food security for its enormous population.
The Green Revolution in Other Countries:
Similarly, several other countries also introduced Green revolution programs in their country. Philippines focused on research about rice and produced IR8 rice, which proved to be a game-changer for rice crops. Brazil experimented with Soybean crops used for animal feed. Brazil enhanced its crop production and became self-sufficient in animal feed. Soon, it was one of the leading producers of meat in the world.
In Africa, Malawi was the only country that could reap the benefits of the Green revolution. Malawi introduced reforms in the production of its maize crops and improved the yield for a considerable time. But in other areas of Africa, the Green revolution could not make its mark. There are several reasons for this failure: political problems, corruption, water scarcity, and poor soil quality.
Advantages of Green Revolution:
The Green Revolution’s most essential function was the spread of agricultural technology throughout the world. Different countries shared their agricultural knowledge and techniques. Researchers worked on the existing methods to suggest improvements. Various fertilizers, pesticides, and agrochemicals were manufactured to be used in the production of better yields. Scientists worked on developing new breeds of plants that can give more crop yields than the usual breeds. The Green revolution was a success. According to research, Crop yields increased by 44% from 1962 to 2010 because of the Green Revolution. But with all these perks, the Green revolution also caused some complications.
Criticism of Green Revolution:
There have been many criticisms of the Green Revolution. Some criticize it for not being sustainable. Soon the manufacturing materials for fertilizers, agrochemicals, and pesticides will be depleted. Failure to find new sources of these materials will result in the same or maybe worse conditions.
The chemicals for fertilizers and pesticides are also harmful to health. Using these chemicals without taking proper measures can cause health problems for humans and other organisms. In addition to this, the Green Revolution also threatened biodiversity. It has focused on only those crops which are commercially beneficial. The new breeds resulted in the loss of many traditional types of crops. In some cases, the new crop breeds are not proving sufficient for providing nutrients necessary for maintaining good health.
From the social perspective, the Green revolution can result in the monopolies of different companies. When farmers used new crop breeds, natural crop breeds were left to extinguish. Now, farmers are dependent on various companies for seeds. In many cases, farmers have to take on debts to get these seeds. Poor agricultural policies can result in more severe kinds of monopolies. Moreover, with the modernization of agriculture, the requirement of the workforce decreased. Many people lost their jobs, and unemployment increased.
The Green Revolution and Environment:
It was expected that modern agricultural practices would increase carbon emissions. But research points to the contrary. The Green Revolution decreased the amount of carbon released by agriculture. The only problem that remains is the use of fossil fuels in agricultural practices. Fossil fuels used in the production of fertilizers are damaging to the environment. All in all, the Green revolution has its advantages as well as disadvantages. The work is in progress to improve these processes.
Conclusion:
Despite all the progress in the agricultural field, we still have to go a long way to make our future sustainable. We have to increase our scientific knowledge for this purpose. We should focus on developing new technologies that help increase crop yields sustainably. Research centers should be established to make the environment for research and experimentation in the agricultural field. Genetic engineering is showing a positive prospect in this case. In the end, we should focus on developing policies that consider sustaining the environment, reducing poverty, and attracting investment in sustainable projects. We should keep in mind that such a project does not yield results overnight. These aspects involving the environment take some time to evolve. But we should do our part and keep moving towards a sustainable future.
