🌈 Revolutions

👉🏻 Revolution in Agriculture are significant events that lead to radical changes in the production, productivity, quality and other factors of agricultural produce.

• This could be through introduction of new technology, discoveries or new interventions.
• Following are the agricultural revolutions have occurred in India and have marked the beginning of a completely new era in the agricultural field. The agricultural revolutions helped Indian agriculture grow exponentially and created new opportunities.

Green Revolution

• The term “Green Revolution” was first used in 1968 by former USAID director William S. Gaud.
• Between 1950s and late 1960s, a set of technology interventions called package of practices were under taken around the world. This resulted in increased production in parts of world.
• Agriculture was trasformed from subsistance to intensive form.
• Related to Food grain production, mainly wheat and rice.

Main aspects of Green Revolution:

• Use of Seeds of high yielding varieties which were input responsive
• Use of chemical fertilizers and Pesticides
• Use of various mechanical machineries
• Use of Irrigation Facilities
• Use of the latest technological and capital inputs
• Adoption of modern scientific methods of farming

Important Points

• Agronomists bred cultivars of maize, wheat, and rice that are the generally referred to as HYVs or “high-yielding varieties”. HYVs have higher nitrogen-absorbing potential than other varieties. Since cereals that absorbed extra nitrogen would typically lodge, or fall over before harvest, semi-dwarfing genes were bred into their genomes.
• A Japanese dwarf wheat cultivar Norin 10 developed by Japanese agronomist Gonjiro Inazuka. It was instrumental in developing Green Revolution wheat cultivars.
• IR8, the first widely implemented HYV rice to be developed by IRRI, was created through a cross between an Indonesian variety named “Peta” and a Chinese variety named “Dee-geo-woo-gen”

• Dr. Norman Ernest Borlaug is recognized as Father of Green Revolution. He bred rust-resistant cultivars which have strong and firm stems, preventing them from falling over under extreme weather at high levels of fertilization
• He won Nobel Peace Prize in 1970.
• In 1961, India was on the brink of mass famine. Norman Borlaug was invited to India by the adviser to the Indian Minister of Agriculture Dr. M. S. Swaminathan. Despite bureaucratic hurdles imposed by India’s grain monopolies, the Ford Foundation and Indian government collaborated to import wheat seed from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT).
• The state of Punjab was selected by the Indian government to be the first site to try the new crops because of its reliable water supply, the presence of Indus plains which make it one of the most fertile plains on earth.
• India begun its own Green Revolution program under the leadership of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan (Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan) in 1967-68. Dr. M.S. Swaminathan is recognised as Father of Green Revolution in India.
• Green revolution was mainly restricted to Punjab, Haryana, and Western Uttar Pradesh.
• Green revolution mainly related to Wheat and Rice production.
• The landmark of Indian Green Revolution - IARI, New Delhi.

Outcomes of Green Revolution

• Major achievement was observed in the yield of Wheat form 8.5 quintals to 22.81 quintals per hectare.
• Green revolution made India self-sufficient in food-grains production and made the country less dependent on imports.