Green Revolution deteriodated the quality of natural resources justify the statement
Answers
it provides new technologies to our agriculture such as fertilizers hyv seed pesticides etc which increases the production
Growth of Production Factors in Original Green Revolution States
Green revolution technologies in India were originally introduced in the states of Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh (UP). These states are part of the Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP), where Punjab and Haryana fall in Trans IGP and western UP in the middle and upper IGP (Fig. 6.3). These plains are believed to be formed by alluvium brought from the Himalayas by the Indus and Ganges river systems about 7000 years ago (Pal et al., 2009). The soils in the region are generally deep alluvium, sandy loam to loam in texture, alkaline in reaction, and poor in organic matter content. In pre-green revolution period, rice cultivation in this region was limited to a small area that too mostly aromatic basmati variety with productive potential of about 1 t ha−1 (Kumar and Nagarajan, 2004). With the ushering of green revolution, rice–wheat emerged as the major cropping system in this region.
The original green revolution states in India.
Both Punjab and Haryana are intensively cultivated states. During 1966–2012, area under rice increased 10-fold (from 0.28 to 2.85 mha) in Punjab and six-fold (from 0.19 to 1.22 mha) in Haryana. During this period, the area under wheat cultivation in both the states increased 2–3.5 times (from 1.62 to 3.51 mha in Punjab and 0.72–2.5 mha in Haryana). An unprecedented increase in both production and productivity levels of wheat and rice occurred in these states, which helped India meet the food shortages of the 1960s. Being pioneer of India's green revolution, these states sustained both positive and negative effects of green revolution technologies. Initially farmers achieved very high productivity levels but very soon, chemical-based inputs and mechanized farming led to overexploitation of the natural resources, especially groundwater and soil, to the extent that most of the farming enterprises have turned out to be environmentally unsustainable (PSFC, 2013). Water table declined at an alarming rate in the region, especially under intensively cultivated rice–wheat systems (Hira, 2009). During the period of 1993–2003, the water-table fall in central districts of Punjab ranged between 0.3 and 1.0 m annually. By 2006, the water table had sunk to depths as low as 28 m. With the increased production of rice and wheat came the problem of residue management. Most of the rice residue is burnt in situ, which, in addition to causing environmental pollution and health hazards, leads to loss of carbon and other nutrients. Recently, there were reports of declining or stagnating crop yields in these states.