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 The
achievements of the green revolution have been at the expense of
the environment, natural resources, and social justice. The grave
consequences of an exploitative use of technology need a therapy
combining modern and traditional agricultural technology. Failure
to adopt this process of bio-remediation, says Dr. Sankaram Ayala,
may mean falling prey to the ‘Asian financial flu’ haunting our
doors.
Given the importance of agriculture in general and cereal crops
in particular, the green revolution has been a triumph and transformation
from subsistence to market orientation of agriculture in this century.
It is the incredible yield transformation of staple cereals, rice,
wheat and corn. A bio-technological marvel of synergistic interaction
of genetics, agronomy and plant protection. The high yielding variety
is the starter, with water and fertilizer as the catalysts to translate
the genetic yield potential into harvests. Plant protection is the
science of controlling field crop losses caused by pests, diseases
and weeds. It is based on two scientific processes: assimilation
of solar energy in the leaves and synthesising processes of the
carbohydrate, fat and protein in the seed. Both are integral parts
of the production of yield; and without either, there is no yield
l
The first attempts at crop improvement for yields in India in the
forties, after World War II, the Grow More Food and Intensive Agricultural
Development Programmes were positive but insufficient to convince
the farmers. The missing link was a crop variety responsive to fertilizer
and water use. After a long and tedious search, the discovery of
Taichun Native 1, a variety genetically inclined to profuse tillering
without lodging and responsive to fertilizer and water, constituted
the vanguard of the battle on the food front. At this time, the
Indian food situation turned grave with two successive drought years.
Acrimonious debates in Parliament and starvation deaths, led the
Minister for Agriculture, C. Subramaniam, to a firm promise in Parliament
that he would solve the problem within a period of five years. He
redeemed the promise through a visionary and pragmatic policy with
five major components:
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Agriculture
that supplies the sinews of development and strength had a management
problem and that a productivity approach would help in maximizing
output.
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The
fatal fascination for release of crop varieties to suit every taste
and flavour needed a shift, to yield-raising inputs and their management
to enhance use efficiency (Feb 1964).
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For
exploitation of science and technology in governing crop production,
scientists must first demonstrate what they advocate, right on the
farmer’s field.
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A
seed bill to be enacted provides for regulation of quantity and
quality seed for varieties chosen on the advice of a crop variety
release committee (Dec 1964)
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The
Food Corporation of India, (FCI), to be instituted, functions for
trade in food grains and covers the interests of the producer, against
cyclic and seasonal fluctuations in prices and the consumer from
exploitation and the vagaries of speculative trade. The instruments
of implementation are the Prices Commission, provision of credit
requirements of the farmer in full and a Ware-housing Corporation
for storage and distribution of buffer stock of grains. (Jan 1965)
For
the technology to be acceptable to farmers, the first step was to
demonstrate it right on the farmer’s field, in a national demonstration.
For the year 1965, three hundred sixty six demonstrations on five
cereals, rice, wheat, sorghum, maize and pearl millet, all over
the country, convinced farmers of the merits and feasibility of
the technology. (Table 1)
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Over
the years 1975-83, demonstrations were conducted on the HYV technology
on the farmers’ fields; the untapped yield potential was 54 per
cent.
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The
fertilizer use in terms of kg. per tonne of grain moved from 4.5
to 137 over 30 years with yield rise by a factor 2.5.
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IFFCO,
demonstrated at the APAU (Hyderabad-1986) with the use of only 56
kg N/ha as Super Granule urea, with appropriate P and K recorded
a yield of paddy grain 5.2 t/ha and use efficiency of fertilizer
at 25.5.
The
progress of adoption by natural spread over the years, 1965-85 boggled
the imagination of the formulators and implementers. The first peak
harvest of 150 mil/t of food grains, symbolised that the battle
on the food front was won. Malthus’ foreboding failed and the famines
of the past receded. The promise of the Minister for agriculture
to the Parliament was redeemed.
The
vital lesson to be learnt from the IFFCO experiment is that it is
perfectly in line with what was recorded in 1966 by Panse and Abraham
(1966) “contrary to the usual belief, application of two nutrients
together or all the three nutrients to form a balanced fertilizer
has not yielded a response larger than the sum of the responses
to individual nutrients and in all the regions of India except the
West coast, the combined response is even lower than would be expected
on an additive basis”. Having failed to respond to this advice the
formulation and promotion of the three nutrient complexes has been
the most expensive error in our fertilizer product patterns and
their promotion from which the nation and the farmer have incurred
and continue to incur incredible losses. This may appear small to
the common man and in the context of politically apprehensive attitude
towards an industry. It is in reality more than just a cog in the
wheel, for fertilizer used to be dysfunctional.
India’s
Green Revolution Achievements
Single
largest consignment of wheat seed, (Lema Rojo 64) of 18,000 tonnes,
freighted by India on July, 18,1966 from Guyman (Mexico) to Kandla
(Gujarat, India).
Demonstration
of HYV technology right on the farmer’s field that would convince
hundreds of the feasibility and profitability, year after year,
caused a natural spread. While farmers in the US required ten years
for adoption of hybrids, Indian farmers accepted the HYV for rice
and wheat over a short period of 5 to 6 years.
The
announcement of the political policy in totality and not piece meal
for agricultural development in 1965, triggered the green revolution,
preceded the implementation.
| Table
1: Results of National Demonstrations |
| Year |
Number
of trials |
National
Average Yield
(kgs / hectare) |
Demonstration
Yield (Av.)
(kgs / hectare) |
Yield
Realised as a percentage |
| 1965* |
153 |
1,610 |
4,684 |
34.37
(Ref:1) |
| 1975-83* |
6,297 |
1,750 |
3,800 |
46.05
(Ref:2) |
*(1)
Ind. Fmg. (ICAR) Sept 1966 (2) Fert. News, FAI. April 1985
In
1984, the US promulgated the Food Security Act and Alternative Agriculture.
In the same year, India recorded the first peak food grain harvest
of 150 mil/t. Since then yields declined or plateaued at a certain
level. By 1990, it was realised that plateau yield, was the symptom
of a deep-seated malady, characterised by disruption of biological,
ecological and social systems.
| Bio-remediation
of conventional
agricultural practices |
| Conventional
agri-practices |
Bio-remedial
measures |
| Mono
culture |
Crop
rotation, mixed and inter cropping |
| Chemical
fertilizers |
Combination
of inorganic and organic blends, crop-tailored formulations |
| Chemical
pesticides |
IPM
- Integrated Pest Management with chemical pesticide as the
last resort. |
| Water
use |
Conjunctive
use of resources and conservation of rain water |
| Energy
- fuel oil based |
Largely
human and animal energy for all cultural operations with no
subsidy. |
| Maximisation
of crop yield Organic manures |
Economic maximisation of yields Use of green manures, enriched
compost and tank silt. |
| Environmental
quality |
Protection of forests, reduction in oil based
fertilizers and mechanisation of cultural operations |
Thus:
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There
is anchoring evidence that conventional agriculture for the developing
world, particularly for India would prove to be catastrophic.
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The
approach towards agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fisheries
has been invariably manipulative, short sighted, destructive and
degrading.
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All
critical planetary thresholds are crossed or will be, while economic
indicators are positive, key environmental indicators - land, water
and biodiversity - are increasingly negative.
 The
green revolution lost its momentum, with the loss of ecological
and technological sustainability in both developed and developing
countries. The glory of Egypt’s agricultural excellence under the
Aswan Dam entered the era of distress for food and fisheries. China
was in distress, as the water table of the North Central plain dropped
at 1.5 metres per year. Punjab - agricultural centre of India -
is under serious threat of nitrate pollution of underground water
and expansive salinity.
The
truth is that, nothing is wrong with the technology but nothing
is right in its implementation on the field. The yield fatigue is
the symptom of a deep-seated malady of the total violation of natural
laws governing the technology; in particular, the mismanagement
of all inputs, as greed over powered need. The thrill turned into
a threat, the glamour changed to clamour, a stunning marvel melted
into an incurable malady.
The
seed industry for food grains and hybrid cotton opened several job
opportunities and multiplied fortunes of the adventurous few. Fertilizer
manufacturers sparkled financially, while distributors had their
expected high share. Expansion of irrigation through dam culture
enjoyed ceaseless good fortune along with corruption of global dimensions.
Those in the grain trade, between the producer and the consumer,
harvested all the cake without sowing anything. All job opportunities
under urban development are at the expense of the finite resources
and the honest sweat of farmers and labourers. What little profit
the HYV technology conferred on the poor farmers passed into the
pockets of many unrepentant felons of trade. The incentives to catalyse
resource degradation and decreased response to technology are the
result of liberal political patronage. The farmer is stripped naked
economically and the rural areas impoverished. The rural urban divide
is frightening. Poverty is pervasive and hunger deepened, for global
statistical records. Like the solar-based photosynthesis, the science
of the green revolution is immortal; only greed based human behaviour
made it less functional and more destructive. Planned development
as we step in to the next century with more of the same kind of
inputs and higher energy levels leads us to the grave yard, the
place of final peace akin to the adage “The reconciling grave swallows
distinction first that made us foes. There all lie down in peace
together.”
Traditional
farming systems have emerged over centuries of cultural and biological
evolution and represent the accumulated experience of farmers in
interaction with the environment without access to external inputs,
capital, or scientific knowledge. It is wrong to simply equate tradition
with superstition, ignorance and illusion. Centuries of experience
were rewarding and guided farmers in nearly all areas to develop
sustainable agro-ecosystems managed with locally available resources
and human and animal energy. Agronomy, the mother discipline of
agro-ecology (alternative agriculture) is strongly influenced by
the environment. There is no alternative, but to replace monocultures
and external energy inputs to a point where further erosion of natural
resources is prevented, yet achieving ecologically sustainable yields
under economically viable practices. The future of sustainable agriculture
carries a trinity of goals: economics, environment and ethics.
The
mandate for agricultural development of India, as we step into the
next century, must be read as “to produce increasing yields, year
after year, from decreasing basic natural resources, to meet the
rising demands of an expanding population with shrinking purchasing
capacity. At the same time there should be no adverse effects on
both the resources and environment.”
The
data of distress for the period 1984 to 2000 convincingly warns
that this century will end, not on a bright note of optimism, but
with a challenge to our latent abilities to apply the corrective
therapy. (Table 3) .The troubling triple alliance is the decline
in soil fertility, fall in use efficiency of inputs and excessive
chemicalisation. All future production must come from soil already
under cultivation, not with more inputs of the past kind but through
principles of ecological management rooted in the essentials of
prudence and use efficiency.
| By
1990, it was realised that plateau yield was the symptom of
a deep-seated malady |
To this end, an appropriate mindset of policy makers and farmers
is imperative. But though the politician maintains a stony silence
and the farmer displays extreme resilience to poverty, the dawn
of Y2K will neither be delayed nor would it function better for
the farmer, even if the entire world were democratically governed.
Change
in Mind-Set
To
develop a forward-looking mind-set and a freshness of approach towards
agricultural progress these key elements must be considered:
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A
change in the belief that human beings are the rulers of the world
and not subject to the laws of nature is essential.
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Over
the past two decades, man has learnt how to farm with chemicals
and large-scale machinery. There is an urgent need to capture the
culture of the past traditional wisdom to farm in ecologically sound
ways, to preserve the health of the soil, protect the integrity
of the environment and promote the use efficiency of scarce resources.
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Science
and technology chosen must be integrated with local traditional
practices for economic maximisation of crop yields.
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A
major shift in planning and execution becomes imperative in three
areas (a) from crop centred to cropping systems (b) vertical integration
to be replaced by horizontal (c) from the totally inorganic to a
blend of organic and inorganic.
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For
globalisation to be rewarding, a cross border dialogue, on all issues
including patent laws, based on morality, welfare and ethics to
be mutually beneficial, sufficiently transparent and highly purposeful
for rural development of the recipient country, is crucial.
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To
look beyond yield achievement is imperative and what J. B. S. Haldane
observed in his book “Science and Future” (1923) is the warning
that, “Unless our ethical outlook evolves to keep pace with the
development of science and technology, social chaos and disaster
would result”. This would happen to all developing countries if
we do not change our conventional agricultural pattern. Developed
countries would suffer in a different way with drug abuse and obesity
associated with a variety of health problems.
|
Agricultural Scenario
for
the period 1984 to 2000 |
| Population
rise per year (per cent) 2.2 |
| Production
of food grains per year (per cent) 1.8 |
| Food
grain entitlement per capita gm/day 560 to 540 |
| Change
in cereal/protein ratio 3:1 to 6:1 |
| Rise
in procurement price, paddy (per cent)/yr. 10 to 17 |
| Rise
in consumer price rise, (per cent)/yr. 20.0 |
| Middleman
chain profit as per cent of consumer price 40.0 |
| Farmer’s
net profit (per cent of procurement) 35.0 |
| Fertilizer
use efficiency decrease 7.3 to 4.3 |
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It
is necessary to be aware of where human duty to protect humanity
ends and human obligation to Nature begins. To dominate over other
living companions and distance ourselves from Nature is fatal.
The
green revolution is deemed a unique energetic institution of global
dimensions. In India, its success has been limited to the physical
supply of grains but, as a means to end hunger and poverty, it has
been a failure (Perkins 1997). It is totally and firmly based on
science and the indisputable natural laws governing ecosystems.
A rejection of the HYV technology on environmental grounds fails,
if the greedy and excessive misuse of the resource base is impartially
evaluated. In short, there is nothing wrong with the technology
and nothing right with its application in the field. If the current
(since 1900) levels and patterns of input use, water, fertilizer,
pesticides energy and cultural practices are continued with projected
escalations for fertilizer and energy (NAASc. 1996) under the only
plea of population increase, Malthus’ foreboding will come true.
India will be in the cruel grip of Asian Financial flu with civil
war in the streets.
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