The phenomenal increase in the global production of food grains, especially wheat and rice since the 1950s-1960s, is termed as the Green Revolution. American scientist Norman Ernest Borlaug developed and introduced new High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) of wheat in the 1950s in Mexico, the US and later on in other Asian countries, including India, which increased the production and saved the world from hunger. He is known as the Father of the Green Revolution. It led him to winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970.
The discovery
Borlaug developed a short-stemmed or ‘dwarf’ strain of wheat that dramatically increased the production of wheat at his research station Campo Atizapan in Mexico. The problem with taller varieties of wheat crop was that they could not sustain the weight of fertilised heads. Use of more chemical fertilisers had enhanced the yield of taller wheat crops. But the grains so produced increased the weight of the fertilised heads and damaged the stem. However, the dwarf varieties could withstand the weight of fertilised heads despite increase in production. This revolutionised wheat yield in Mexico by three times compared to native varieties. India and other Asian countries requested aid agencies like Rockefeller Foundation and the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization for the dwarf seeds so as to introduce them in their respective countries. But the story of India’s adoption is phenomenal. As a newly independent nation, bright scientist Dr M S Swaminathan came up with a set of innovative practices that increased grain production in a short span of time. It was termed India’s Green Revolution.
The Green Revolution led to a huge expansion of farmlands, intensification of agriculture and excessive use of chemical fertilisers. Seeds with superior genetics were used and agriculture shifted from rainfed to planned irrigation. The earlier one crop per season practice changed to at least twice a year.
Indian situation
In the wake of the food crisis after Independence, India had to sign a long term agreement with the US in 1954, known as Public Law 480 (PL 480). Under this, India received food aid in exchange for liberalising its budding industrial and agriculture sector for private players. Both prime ministers Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi found the agreement humiliating. Moreover, the food aid sent to India was not fit for human consumption. The agreement was finally scrapped in the late 1960s.
India’s last reported famine was in 1964 and 1965. At that point, India was fighting battles at two fronts: the Indo-Pak war in 1965 and widespread hunger. Shastri gave a call of ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ and appealed to countrymen to ‘sacrifice a meal at least once a week’. In order to achieve food self-sufficiency, he appointed C Subramaniam as minister of food and agriculture. Subramaniam teamed up with Swaminathan to change the face of Indian agriculture. In January 1966, Indira Gandhi became PM. She, too, strove to make India free from foreign grain dependence.
The agronomist’s role
Swaminathan had specialised in genetics and breeding. The infamous Bengal famine of 1943 had created a lasting impact on him. It motivated him to take up agricultural research to increase production. In 1954, he joined the Odisha-based Central Rice Research Institute where he, along with his team, developed better yielding rice varieties. He successfully transferred genes of Japonica varieties to fertilise Indica varieties, which increased rice production. After rice, he shifted his focus to wheat. It was a challenging task as not much research was done on wheat in India. In the meantime, Borlaug was promoting his research in the new HYV wheat cereal.
While top American scientists like Orville Vogel were sceptical of the success of wheat production in India due to different climatic conditions, Borlaug had already done spring wheat in Mexico, which has a tropical climate like India. Swaminathan approached Borlaug for the dwarf gene of wheat. He invited him to the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, where wheat breeding started in 1963. This breeding was further expanded to more areas of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Western UP. Within four years, wheat production in India increased from 10 million tonnes to 17 million tonnes.
The Indian Green Revolution, from 1967-68 to 1977-78, changed the country’s status from a food-deficient country to one of the world’s leading agricultural nations. India, which was then producing 50 million tonnes of food grains, now produces 330 million tonnes. Its food surplus helped it to become a net exporter of grains.
Critics of the Green Revolution
Critics say the Green Revolution was merely a survival strategy for India instead of a scientific feat. It destroyed India’s rich agroecology, promoted economic and regional disparity that benefitted those who were already prosperous. Besides, it was only focussed on wheat and rice. It reduced the focus on traditional rainfed crops and nutritious crops like pulses and oilseeds. It also left out major non-food crops like cotton, jute, tea and sugarcane.
They also argue that the Green Revolution only benefitted 40% of India’s farmland. India’s eastern region like Bihar, Odisha, Bengal, Assam and some southern and western regions were left out of the revolution. It also promoted excessive use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and intensive water use. The use of chemical fertilisers caused irreparable environmental damage, soil pollution and human health hazards. It also caused disease among humans and animals. Increased cases of cancer, renal failure, stillborn babies and birth defects can all be traced back to the use of chemical fertilisers. Besides, intensive irrigation led to water scarcity in many regions. For instance, Punjab, a major wheat- and rice-cultivating area, is one of the highest water depleted regions in India.
Swaminathan’s concern
In 1968, in his speech at the Indian Science Congress, Swaminathan warned farmers of losing hundreds of native varieties by adopting one or two HYV varieties. He also flagged concerns over excessive use of fertilisers. Two decades later, he set up the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation in 1988, to work on promoting sustainable agriculture.
Research foundation
The M S Swaminathan Research Foundation was set up in Chennai in 1988 from the funds Dr M S Swaminathan recieved as cash component of the First World Food Prize he was honoured with in 1987