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Being a developing country, India has witnessed many agricultural revolutions. Green Revolution was the biggest of them all, as it helped Indian farmers become independent. Over the years, we witnessed various shortcomings of the Green Revolution like deterioration in soil quality and excessive use of fertilizers. To combat these problems M.S.Swaminathan came up with an updated model called the Evergreen Revolution. Read on to find out more details about the significance, concepts and impact of the Evergreen Revolution!
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Also Read: Revolutions in India You Must Know About
What is the Green Revolution and Why Did it Fail?
M. S. Swaminathan observed in his research that the green revolution was degrading the environment be it soil depletion, groundwater pollution, soil erosion, loss of fertility, or loss of biodiversity. He wanted to fix this problem by making agriculture more sustainable whilst looking at the poverty rate of India.
- The green revolution was introduced in India to accelerate the agriculture of India and make them bread-earners from beggars. Though India became self-sufficient and even sufficient enough to export crops, major loopholes and drawbacks were faced by the farmers and by India as a whole
- The land started to lose its fertility to a point that there was an extreme decline in the cultivable land by person ratio. The greed of growing more and more was so demonic that the resources such as water and land were depleting at an alarming rate
- More fertilizers were being used which eventually decreased the yield rate and increased soil erosion which then seeped into the groundwater and was contaminating the potable water
- Initially being a boon for the Indians but eventually, the green revolution needed to be rectified to stop further animosities.
Need for Evergreen Revolution
- Soil depletion by the excessive use of fertilizers
- Groundwater contamination by the chemicals
- Loss of fertility
- Climate change
- Regional disparities
- Loss of biodiversity
- Increased use of unsustainable agriculture methods
- Waterlogging
- Farmers getting burdened by loans
Also Read: Blue Revolution
Main Components of Evergreen Revolution
The main objective of the green revolution was to increase the production of crops, double farmer’s incomes, and maintaining environmental sustainability by using high-yielding seeds whilst educating the farmers about informative and communicative technologies(ICT). Farmers were informed and educated about weather alerts, the sowing period, the prices of products, and introduced services like e-Kranti which is a technology with real-time price information, payment with online banking, and online ordering of inputs.
The main components of the evergreen revolution are up-gradation of soil health and fertility, using high-yielding seeds, using lab-to-land demonstration, and implementing rainwater harvesting instead of contaminating the existing groundwater.
Also Read: Golden Revolution
Evergreen Revolution and Food Security in India
Food security means the ability of a country to procure or produce adequate amounts of food supply for its current and future population. Looking at the population of India it was concerning that with the decrease in soil productivity how would India produce sufficient to feed its people the only solution was to produce more and more. The fear of stagnation of the growth of food crops was the biggest concern. The following steps were taken to improve the food security of India:
- Building public distribution system
- Introduction of food supplementation programs to improve food intake in the vulnerable sections of the society
- Direct and indirect food subsidy
- Improving purchasing power
- National surveys were made to make sure these measures were being taken seriously
- Availability, access, and absorption were the main goals
- Production of rice and wheat increased
The main focus of M S Swaminathan was to lessen the import of resources and increase local production and improve the food security of India.
Also Read: Black Revolution
International Research Network
To increase farming systems productivity, there is an immediate need for an international research network that can facilitate knowledge and technology sharing amongst farmers. The research is needed in the sectors of:
(i) integrated gene management
(ii) higher factor productivity, with particular reference to water and nutrients
(iii) precision farming and development of the biological software essential for sustainable agriculture
(iv) bioorganic agriculture combining relevant features of organic farming and biotechnology
(v) biomass utilization for adding economic value to every part of the biomass
Also Read: Grey Revolution
NITI Aayog’s 3-year Solution Map
The NITI Aayog has come up with a 3-year plan for making prices for farmers remunerative and to take agriculture in India to new heights by increasing the productivity of farming.
The main goals are an increase in the production of food crops like rice and wheat, and pulses, use of wasteland, and model contract farming. Cutting-edge technologies will be used, promotion of deep-sea fishing, promotion of climate-resilient indigenous breeds of cows and buffaloes, increase of cropping intensity by 1 million hectares per year through the utilization of rice fallow areas for pulses and oil-seeds. All these amendments and plans claim to increase the food security in India and aim to improve the quality of farming and agriculture by making it sustainable for good.
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India still requires firm policies for the future that ensure sustainable and environmental-friendly production of goods. If you are looking for a unique course in agriculture, get in touch with our experts at Leverage Edu, and get guidance in choosing the right program. Sign up for an e-meeting with us!
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