The constraints of Green revolution
Girija Shankar, 4th Semester
The need and demand of people keep on
changing with the change in nature, but now the nature has demanded the change
from us “the change in the agriculture”. the green revolution started with the
motive to overcome chronic food deficits and to
reduce the hunger of the people which the nature has fulfilled as “the
mother do” and now our mother need us the
she call for the change, change
in agriculture “to return its skin glossy ( fertile soil)”.
As every coin has two face similarly the
green revolution started with the merit but now its demerit is more visible to
us. In fact this is true, the effect of green revolution is not only limited
with the agriculture it has also effected the society, economic and so the
socio economic status of the people.
The green revolution started
during the early 1960s with the heavy mechanization, modernization the use of
high breed seed, pesticide and fertilizer. The aim of green revolution was to
produce more food and other agricultural products from less land. At the beginning of the Green Revolution,
there was a large growth in Indian agriculture however, instability rises and
the Green Revolution was on a rapid decline. It causes water shortage health
problem and economic problem too. The HYV seed, fertilizer, pesticide requires
water for its application so, the green revolution demanded for the heavy use
of water which is the primary source of survival for living things (man and
animal) life seems difficult when there is a large shortage of any one thing
that can make assurance of life (water) which was completely utilized for the
production purpose as a result ground water level has gone down “it was such a
situation when life of man was provided to the plant”. Farmer seeing the short
time profit at the risk of future (sustainability of land ) they started the heavy
use of pesticide, fertilizer to get more and more production but Unfortunately,
with the rise in the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, there were
many negative effects on the soil and land the beneficial microbe were assassinated
the land started losing its fertility, productivity and turned into the barren
land ,the effect was not limited up to the land only as a result of chemical pesticide and
fertilizer used in the land, contaminated the
ground water affected the health of the people who are consuming the
agricultural produce which contained pesticides and chemicals. This directly
affected the health of farmer and people who were consuming it and breathing in
that environment, the live example when monsoon failed in 1972-73, the ‘year of
drought’ occurred. There was much damage caused by the Green Revolution. There
was an excessive amount of fertilizers and pesticides used which polluted
waterways and poisoned agricultural workers. The beneficial wildlife and
insects that lived in the farming areas were also killed which made the land
not as healthy for farmers to work with.
Before the green revolution the farmer were
practicing the crop rotation panting two or three crop once in a year which was
directly or on directly playing a role in the sustainability of the land but
the this habit was changed with the mono cropping practices which started
sucking the micro and macro nutrition from the soil and once again farmer got a
reason to use the heavy chemical fertilizers, which lead to the development of
a new strain on the carbon material within the soils. There also has been a
loss in bio diversity in farm lands because since there has been an increase in
chemical pesticides and fertilizers, many insects have been killed and the
birds that create homes in rural areas have found new areas to live because of
the unfavorable environment “the green revolution started playing its role in
the bio-diversity loses also”
Seeing the effect of green revolution on water, land and in the
environment its effect where also visible in the society and in the economic sector.
The trickle-down theory a concept was developed for the development which state
that “the economic will flow down ward to the lower section from the upper
section” this was implemented during the green revolution time but its effect
was totally opposite of the assumed result the “richer farmer became richer and
the poorer more poor “the social imbalance was created among the farmers. Small and land less labor became job less due
to heavy mechanization they tried all the possible way to earn more profit from
agriculture which lead them to purchase the costly fertilizer and pesticide for
their very small land through the help
of financial institution like bank or from the local money lender but due to
heavy production the they could not sell there produce at the right price due
to which they came under the indebtness . The race doesn’t end here within the process
of producing the second round of crops within one year, when the second round
does not produce as quickly or they do not have the same quality, farmers got
very distressed and committed suicide. In 2002, there were over 1000 suicides
reported from 12 districts of Maharashtra, India. The government in India has been in denial
about the number of suicides that have occurred since 1987, which has arisen to
over 10,000 suicides committed by farmers. This is within the same time that
the Green Revolution began to tumble and not be as successful. The region where
the green revolution was implemented in the state of Punjab and Haryana at
least one of the family member suffer from the incurable cancer disease. A
train name cancer train also run for the cancer patient from Bicaner to
Chandigarh.
At the end, the green
revolution with the heavy use of pesticide an d chemical fertilizer is not the
safest way to meet the increasing food and nutrition demand of the people.
Somehow the green revolution has meet the need at the high risk of the
sustainability of the land and of the farmer. The research on the nutrition
analysis in the in-organic produce proves that the quality of food has reduce
by increasing the quantity. When the farming done in the eco-friendly way
through organic farming so the nature as well as the farmer can well sustain
without harming the nature then the real aim of the green revolution will be
achieved as the leader of Green Revolution Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan is
an Indian genetics and international administrator who took the leading role in
India’s Green Revolution. His main goal was to eliminate world hunger and
poverty, especially in India by using environmentally sustainable agriculture,
sustainable food security and the preservation of biodiversity.
“Greater the diversity greater will be
the stability”
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