A Look at the Green Revolution

The green revolution was an attempt by agricultural scientists to find ways to feed the world's
burgeoning population. The effort began in 1943, when the Rockefeller Foundation funded a group of
U.S. agricultural scientists to set up a research project in Mexico aimed at increasing that
country's wheat production. Only seven years later scientists distributed the first green
revolution wheat seeds. The project was eventually expanded to include research on maize as well.
By 1967 green revolution scientists were exporting their work to other parts of the world and had
added rice to their research agenda (Figure 8.D). Norman Borlaug, one of the founders of the green
revolution, went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for an important component of the project:
promoting world peace through the elimination of hunger.

The initial focus of the green revolution was on the development of seed varieties that would
produce higher yields than those traditionally used in the target areas. However, in developing
new, higher yielding varieties, agricultural scientists soon discovered that plants were limited in
the amount of nitrogen they could absorb and use. The scientists' solution was to increase the
nitrogen absorption capacity of plants by delivering nitrogen-based fertilizers in water (this led
to the need to build major water and irrigation development projects). Then the scientists
discovered that the increased nitrogen and water caused the plants to develop tall stalks.

The tall stalks, with heavy heads of seed on top, fell over easily, thus reducing the amount of
seed that could be harvested. The scientists went back to the drawing board and came up with dwarf
varieties of grains that would support the heavy heads of seeds without falling over. Then another
problem arose; the short plants were growing in very moist conditions, which encouraged the growth
of diseases and pests. The scientists responded by developing a range of pesticides.

Thus, the green revolution came to constitute a package of inputs: new "miracle seeds," water,
fertilizers, and pesticides. Farmers had to use all of the inputs—and use them properly—to achieve
the yields the scientists produced in their experimental plots (Figure 8.E). Green revolution
crops, if properly watered, fertilized, and treated for pests, can generate yields two to five
times larger than those of traditional crops. In some countries, yields are high enough to engage
in export trade, thus generating important sources of foreign exchange. Furthermore, the creation
of varieties that produce faster maturing crops has allowed some farmers to plant two or more crops
per year on the same land, thus increasing their individual production—and wealth—considerably.

Thanks to green revolution innovations, rice production in Asia grew 66 percent between 1965 and
1985. India, for example, became largely self-sufficient in rice and wheat by the 1980s. Worldwide,
green revolution seeds and agricultural techniques accounted for almost 90 percent of the increase
in world grain output in the 1960s and about 70 percent in the 1970s. In the late 1980s and 1990s
at least 80 percent of the additional production of grains could be attributed to the use of green
revolution techniques. Figure 8.F shows the distribution of maize production worldwide. Thus,
although hunger and famine persist, many argue that they would be much worse if the green
revolution had never occurred.

The green revolution, however, has not been an unqualified success everywhere in the world. One
important reason is that wheat, rice, and maize are unsuitable as crops in many areas, and research
on more suitable crops, such as sorghum and millet, has lagged far behind. In Africa poor soils and
lack of water make progress even more difficult to achieve. Another important factor is the
vulnerability of the new seed strains to pest and disease infestation, often after only a couple of
years of planting. Whereas traditional varieties often have a built-in resistance to the pests and
diseases characteristic of an area, the genetically engineered varieties often lack such
resistance.

Another problem is that green revolution technology has decreased the need for human labor. In
southeastern Brazil machines replaced workers, creating significant unemployment. Green revolution
technology and training have also tended to exclude women, who play important roles in food
production. In addition, the new agricultural chemicals, especially pesticides, have contributed to
ecosystem pollution and worker poisonings, and the more intensive use of irrigation has created
salt buildup in soils (salinization) and water scarcity.

Yet another criticism is that the green revolution has magnified social inequities by allowing more
wealth and power to accrue to a small number of agriculturalists while causing greater poverty and
landlessness among poorer segments of the population. In Mexico a black market developed in green
revolution seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides when poorer farmers, who were coerced into using
them, accrued high debts that they could not begin to repay. Many ended up losing their lands and
becoming migrant laborers or moved to the cities and joined the urban poor. Some critics who have
monitored the effects of the green revolution suggest that political and economic conditions may,
in fact, be more important than levels of production with regard to a country's food security.

Even regarding quality, the green revolution crops often fall short. The new seed varieties may
produce grains that are less nutritious, less palatable, or less flavorful. The chemical
fertilizers and pesticides that must be used are derived from fossil fuels—mainly oil—and are thus
subject to the vagaries of world oil prices. Furthermore, the use of these chemicals, as well as
monocropping practices, has produced worrisome levels of environmental contamination and soil
erosion. In many countries these practices have posed substantial threats to public health,
especially among farm workers who are frequently exposed to poisonous (if not lethal) chemicals.
Water developments have benefited some regions, bur less well-endowed areas have experienced a
deterioration of already existing regional inequities. Worse, pressures to build water projects and
co acquire foreign exchange to pay for importation of green revolution inputs have increased
pressure on countries to grow even more crops for export, often at the expense of production for
local consumption.


In recent years scientists have endeavored to develop seeds with greater pest and disease
resistance and more drought tolerance. The new focus is best revealed in Africa. The International
Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Ibadan, Nigeria, focuses on foods for the humid and subhumid
tropics of Africa, including cassava (imported to Africa from South America by the Portuguese in
the sixteenth century), yams, sweet potatoes, maize, soybeans, and cowpeas. The International Crops
Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (located in Hyderabad, India, but with a major
research center near Niamey, Niger) focuses on researching staples of the Sahel region, such as
sorghum, millet, pigeonpea, and groundnut. Research in Africa on new varieties emphasizes testing
under very adverse conditions (such as no plowing or fertilizing). New varieties are chosen not
just for good yield but because they will provide stable yields over good and bad years. A focus
also exists on developing plants that will increase production of fodder and fuel residues, as well
as of food, and that give optimal yields when intertilled—a very common practice in Africa. In the
Sahel, scientists are working on crops that mature more quickly to compensate for the serous drop
in the average length of the rainy season recently experienced in the region.

There are two final criticisms that have raised concern about the overall benefits of the green
revolution. The first is that it has decreased the production of bio-mass fuels—wood, crop
residues, and dung—traditionally used in many peripheral areas of the world. For example, in India,
as tractors have replaced draft an-mats, less dung is produced and thus less is available as fuel.
Instead, a greater reliance is being placed upon oil to fuel both tractors and other energy needs;
this means that if farmers are to be successful, they increasingly must depend upon the most costly
of energy resources. The second is that the green revolution has contributed to a worldwide loss of
genetic diversity by replacing a wide range of local crops and varieties with a narrow range of
high-yielding varieties of a few crops. Planting single varieties over large areas (monocultures)
has made agriculture more vulnerable to disease and pests.

Although the green revolution has come under much justified attack over the years, it has focused
attention on finding innovative new ways to feed the world's peoples. In the process the world
system has been expanded into hitherto very remote regions, and

important knowledge has been gained about how to conduct science and how to understand the role
that agriculture plays at all geographical scales of resolution, from the global to the local
(Figure 8.G).






Figure 8.D The CIYMMT headquarters The Centre International de Mejorimiento de Maiz yTrigo (CIMMYT)
(International Center for the Improvement of Maize and Wheat) in Texcocu, Mexico, is involved in
plant breeding and research. High-yield-variety seeds were developed here for the Green Revolution.
The center holds the world's premiere collection of corn and wheat germplasm. Modern, refrigerated
storage vaults store many thousands or" varieties. Today, in addition to the static, cold storage,
scientists are working with farmers to preserve seeds dynamically.







Figure 8.E Green revolution experimental plots The CIMMYT includes numerous plots for breeding and
testing seed varieties.

Figure 8.F Global distribution of maize production The widespread production of grains throughout
the globe, particularly maize, has been one of the successes of the green revolution (After J. P.
Goode,). C. Hudson, and E. P, Espanshade, Jr., Rand McM'ally'5 Coode's World Atlas, 20th ed., Rand
McNally, 2000, p. 41.)


Figure 8.G   Effects of the green revolution
This map illustrates the increased yields of protein crops, root crops, other cereals maize, rice
and wheat brought about by the green revolution in selected countries in Latin America, Asia,
Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa. (Data from; R. E. Evenson and D. Gollin,
"Assessing the Impact of the Green Revolution, 1960-2000," Science 300 (2 May 2005), p. 7 59.)