How has Green Revolution helped in solving the Indian food problem?
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Answered by
2
I would like to answer this answer in three phases
Before GR
Reasons which lead to Green revolution
After GR
1.Before GR :
History of organic agriculture in India
Organic farming was practiced in India since thousands of years. The great Indian civilization thrived on organic farming and was one of the most prosperous countries in the world, till the British ruled it. In traditional India, the entire agriculture was practiced using organic techniques, where the fertilizers, pesticides, etc., were obtained from plant and animal products. The cow, not only provided milk, but also provided bullocks for farming and dung which was used as fertilizers.
Spade was one of the most important tools for digging. They manually dig the whole area of field for cropping. They used wooden ploughs driven by bullocks, horses or mules before transplanting the crops. When the time comes for harvesting, they used sickles, threshed manually, and carry on their backs or bullock carts. That was the basic reason why they could not cultivate a large area of farmland. However, they did not use insecticides and pesticides. There was natural soil fertility and thus it did not have adverse effects on health.
2.Reasons which lead to Green revolution
The world's worst recorded food disaster occurred in 1943 in British-ruled India. Known as the Bengal Famine, an estimated 4 million people died of hunger that year in eastern India (which included today's Bangladesh). Initially, this catastrophe was attributed to an acute shortfall in food production in the area. However, Indian economist Amartya Sen (recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economics, 1998) has established that while food shortage was a contributor to the problem, a more potent factor was the result of hysteria related to World War II, which made food supply a low priority for the British rulers.
When the British left India in 1947, India continued to be haunted by memories of the Bengal Famine. It was therefore natural thatfood security was one of the main items on free India's agenda. This awareness led, on one hand, to the Green Revolution in India and, on the other, legislative measures to ensure that businessmen would never again be able to hoard food for reasons of profit.
The Green Revolution, spreading over the period from1967/68 to 1977/78, changed India’s status from a food-deficient country to one of the world's leading agricultural nations. Until 1967 the government largely concentrated on expanding the farming areas. But the population was growing at a much faster rate than food production. This called for an immediate and drastic action to increase yield. The action came in the form of the Green Revolution. The term ‘Green Revolution’ is a general one that is applied to successful agricultural experiments in many developing countries. India is one of the countries where it was most successful.
3. After GR:
Benefits :
Due to the new seeds, tens of millions of extra tonnes of grain a year are being harvested.
The Green Revolution resulted in a record grain output of 131 million tonnes in 1978/79. This established India as one of the world's biggest agricultural producers. Yield per unit of farmland improved by more than 30% between1947 (when India gained political independence) and 1979. The crop area under high yielding varieties of wheat and rice grew considerably during the Green Revolution.
The Green Revolution also created plenty of jobs not only for agricultural workers but also industrial workers by the creation of related facilities such as factories and hydroelectric power stations
Issues/Problems:
In regional terms, only the states of Punjab and Haryana showed the best results of the Green Revolution. The eastern plains of the River Ganges in West Bengal also showed reasonably good results. But results were less impressive in other parts of India.
The Green Revolution has created some problems mainly to adverse impacts on the environment. The increasing use of agro-chemical-based pest and weed control in some crops has affected the surrounding environment as well as human health. Increase in the area under irrigation has led to rise in the salinity of the land. Although high yielding varieties had their plus points, it has led to significant genetic erosion.
Hope it helped..
Great Day….
Before GR
Reasons which lead to Green revolution
After GR
1.Before GR :
History of organic agriculture in India
Organic farming was practiced in India since thousands of years. The great Indian civilization thrived on organic farming and was one of the most prosperous countries in the world, till the British ruled it. In traditional India, the entire agriculture was practiced using organic techniques, where the fertilizers, pesticides, etc., were obtained from plant and animal products. The cow, not only provided milk, but also provided bullocks for farming and dung which was used as fertilizers.
Spade was one of the most important tools for digging. They manually dig the whole area of field for cropping. They used wooden ploughs driven by bullocks, horses or mules before transplanting the crops. When the time comes for harvesting, they used sickles, threshed manually, and carry on their backs or bullock carts. That was the basic reason why they could not cultivate a large area of farmland. However, they did not use insecticides and pesticides. There was natural soil fertility and thus it did not have adverse effects on health.
2.Reasons which lead to Green revolution
The world's worst recorded food disaster occurred in 1943 in British-ruled India. Known as the Bengal Famine, an estimated 4 million people died of hunger that year in eastern India (which included today's Bangladesh). Initially, this catastrophe was attributed to an acute shortfall in food production in the area. However, Indian economist Amartya Sen (recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economics, 1998) has established that while food shortage was a contributor to the problem, a more potent factor was the result of hysteria related to World War II, which made food supply a low priority for the British rulers.
When the British left India in 1947, India continued to be haunted by memories of the Bengal Famine. It was therefore natural thatfood security was one of the main items on free India's agenda. This awareness led, on one hand, to the Green Revolution in India and, on the other, legislative measures to ensure that businessmen would never again be able to hoard food for reasons of profit.
The Green Revolution, spreading over the period from1967/68 to 1977/78, changed India’s status from a food-deficient country to one of the world's leading agricultural nations. Until 1967 the government largely concentrated on expanding the farming areas. But the population was growing at a much faster rate than food production. This called for an immediate and drastic action to increase yield. The action came in the form of the Green Revolution. The term ‘Green Revolution’ is a general one that is applied to successful agricultural experiments in many developing countries. India is one of the countries where it was most successful.
3. After GR:
Benefits :
Due to the new seeds, tens of millions of extra tonnes of grain a year are being harvested.
The Green Revolution resulted in a record grain output of 131 million tonnes in 1978/79. This established India as one of the world's biggest agricultural producers. Yield per unit of farmland improved by more than 30% between1947 (when India gained political independence) and 1979. The crop area under high yielding varieties of wheat and rice grew considerably during the Green Revolution.
The Green Revolution also created plenty of jobs not only for agricultural workers but also industrial workers by the creation of related facilities such as factories and hydroelectric power stations
Issues/Problems:
In regional terms, only the states of Punjab and Haryana showed the best results of the Green Revolution. The eastern plains of the River Ganges in West Bengal also showed reasonably good results. But results were less impressive in other parts of India.
The Green Revolution has created some problems mainly to adverse impacts on the environment. The increasing use of agro-chemical-based pest and weed control in some crops has affected the surrounding environment as well as human health. Increase in the area under irrigation has led to rise in the salinity of the land. Although high yielding varieties had their plus points, it has led to significant genetic erosion.
Hope it helped..
Great Day….
Answered by
2
The Green Revolution has helped in solving the Indian food problem in the following ways:
The Green Revolution is a term used to describe the spectacular increase in the production of food grains, especially wheat, in North India, that started in 1968. Dr Norman Borlaug, an American agronomist, is called the father of the Green Revolution.
He had designed the new package technology in agriculture, which included the combined use of three inputs: high yielding variety seeds, adequate irrigation water, and chemical fertilizers.
The use of the package technology, together with various agricultural reforms like consolidating landholdings, rural electrification, farm mechanization and providing credit facilities to farmers, has given a big boost to Agricultural output. As a result, India is not only self sufficient in the production of wheat but have bumper stocks that are exported to other countries.
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