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The Green Revolution was an agricultural reform that increased the production of crops worldwide between 1950 and the late 1960s. It includes the use of high-end techniques and technologies along with good-quality raw materials to enhance the production of crops. The advent of this technology changed global agriculture and prevented various developing countries, including India from a mass famine. Wondering who started it in India or who is the father of the Green Revolution? Or what are its main features? Then read on to this blog and find out everything about the Green Revolution in India as well as the world!

Revolution Period	1950 – the late 1960s.
Founder	Norman Borlaug
Father of Green Revolution in India	M.S. Swaminathan
Aim	Adoption of High Yielding Variety (HYV) Upgradation in irrigation facilities and use of more effective fertilizers.

Do you know? The term “Green Revolution” is applied to successful agricultural experiments in many Third World countries. It is not specific to India. But it was most successful in India.

Quick Facts About the Green Revolution

The green revolution was a major topic not only in India but across the world. Here are a few facts about this unique revolution:

• Science and technology were the crucial ways to establish this Revolution.

• The use of chemical fertilizers is affecting the planet’s air and water with an increase in carbon emissions.
• This Revolution had a considerable effect on human health.
• It had a major effect on global biodiversity.

• It was a factor in the Cold War.
• The breeding of HYV crops focused on cereal and staple crops.

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History and Overview of the Green Revolution

Norman Borlaug, an American scientist, is credited with the beginning of the Green Revolution. While researching in Mexico in the 1904s, he developed new high-yielding varieties of wheat that had high disease resistance. As Mexico was equipped with high-end mechanized agriculture technologies, it was able to produce surplus and hence, became one of the biggest exporters of wheat by the 1960s. Before the use of these varieties, almost half of the wheat of the country was being imported. 

Observing the success of the Green Revolution in Mexico, The skin gained popularity across the globe in the 1950s and 1960s. After adopting the technologies in the 1950s, the US not only sufficed its own needs but became an exporter of wheat which was earlier an importer in the 1940s. 

Following the US, many countries around the globe benefited from the Green Revolution. India was also one of them which was on the verge of famine in the early 1960s due to its massive population growth but later on became a wheat exporter. Later on, Borlaug and For Foundation researched by developing a new variety of rice named IR8. Now, India is one of the largest producers of rice, especially IR8 rice. 

Famed as the man who fed the world and the Father of the Green Revolution, Norman Borlaug is an American Agriculture Scientist who developed new disease resistance high-yield varieties of wheat.  

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Who Started the Green Revolution?

Norman Borlaug started the Green Revolution movement in the 1960s. He is referred to as the “Father of the Green Revolution” globally. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 as a result of his work creating high-yielding wheat varieties (HYVs).

What is the Green Revolution in India?

“If agriculture goes wrong, nothing else will have a chance to go right in our country.”
– M. S Swaminathan

The initial years of the post-independence period saw the Indian agricultural system at its worst. Lack of funds, low-yielding raw materials, and a dearth of machinery and technology; were some of the main problems at that time. Understanding the deteriorating condition of the agriculture sector, the Indian Government launched the Green Revolution through which the use of High Yielding Variety (HYV) seeds was adopted in the country. Along with this, took place the up-gradation in irrigation facilities as well as the use of more effective fertilizers. All this together led to the mass production of high-quality crops in India. To find an optimum solution for these issues, in the year 1965 under the guidance of M.S. Swaminathan, the Indian government launched the Green Revolution that lasted from 1967- 1978. 

Schemes Under Green Revolution (India)

The Green Revolution umbrella scheme, known as the “Krishonnati Yojana,” was authorised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It would fund agricultural improvements over the course of three years, from 2017 to 2020, with a central share of INR 33,269.976 crores. The 11 schemes that make up the Green Revolution-Krishonnati Yojana umbrella programme all aim to develop the agricultural and allied sectors in a systematic and scientific way, with the goal of raising farmers’ incomes through improved yields, increased productivity, and infrastructure improvements that lower production costs and increase returns on produce. The following 11 programmes make up the Umbrella Programs for the Green Revolution:

1. MIDH – Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture – It aims to promote the comprehensive growth of the horticulture sector, enhance the production of the sector, improve nutritional security, and increase income support to household farms.
2. NFSM – National Food Security Mission – This includes NMOOP – National Mission on Oil Seeds and Oil Palm. The aim of this scheme is to increase the production of wheat pulses, rice, coarse cereals and commercial crops, productivity enhancement, and area expansion in a suitable manner, enhancing the farm-level economy and restoring soil fertility and productivity at the individual farm level. It further aims to reduce imports and increase the availability of vegetable oils and edible oils in the country.
3. NMSA – National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture – The aim is to promote sustainable agriculture practices that are best suitable to the specific agroecology focusing on integrated farming, appropriate soil health management, and synergizing resource conservation technology.
4. SMAE – Submission on Agriculture Extension – This scheme aims to strengthen the ongoing extension mechanism of State Governments, local bodies, etc. achieving food security and socio-economic empowerment of farmers, forging effective linkages and synergy amongst various stakeholders, to institutionalize program planning and implementation mechanism, support HRD interventions, promote pervasive and innovative use of electronic and print media, interpersonal communication, and ICT tools, etc.
5. SMSP – Sub-Mission on Seeds and Planting Material – This aims to increase the production of quality seed, upgrade the quality of farm-saved seeds and increase SRR, strengthen the seed multiplication chain, and promote new methods and technologies in seed production, processing, testing, etc., to strengthen and modernize infrastructure for seed production, storage, quality, and certification, etc.
6. SMAM – Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation – Aims to increase the reach of farm mechanization to small and marginal farmers and to the regions where availability of farm power is low, to promote ‘Custom Hiring Centres’ to offset the adverse economies of scale arising due to small landholding and high cost of individual ownership, to create hubs for hi-tech and high-value farm equipment, to create awareness among stakeholders through demonstration and capacity building activities, and to ensure performance testing and certification at designated testing centres located all over the country.
7. SMPPQ – Sub Mission on Plant Protection and Plan Quarantine – The aim of this scheme is to minimize loss to quality and yield of agricultural crops from insects, pests, weeds, etc., to shield our agricultural bio-security from the incursions and spread of alien species, to facilitate exports of Indian agricultural commodities to global markets, and to promote good agricultural practices, particularly with respect to plant protection strategies and strategies.
8. ISACES – Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Census, Economics, and Statistics – This aims to undertake the agriculture census, undertake research studies on agro-economic problems of the country, study the cost of cultivation of principal crops, fund conferences, workshops, and seminars involving eminent agricultural scientists, economists, experts so as to bring out papers to conduct short term studies, improve agricultural statistics methodology and to create a hierarchical information system on crop condition and crop production from sowing to harvest.
9. ISAC – Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Cooperation aims to provide financial assistance for improving the economic conditions of cooperatives, remove regional imbalances, to speed up cooperative development in agricultural processing, storage, marketing, computerization, and weaker section programs; ensuring the supply of quality yarn at reasonable rates to the decentralized weavers and help cotton growers fetch a remunerative price for their produce through value addition.
10. ISAM – Integrated Scheme on Agricultural Marketing – This scheme aims to develop agricultural marketing infrastructure; to promote innovative technologies and competitive alternatives in agriculture marketing infrastructure; to provide infrastructure facilities for grading, standardization, and quality certification of agricultural produce; to establish a nation­wide marketing information network; to integrate markets through a common online market platform to facilitate pan-India trade in agricultural commodities, etc.
11. NeGP-A – National e-Governance Plan aims to bring farmer-centric & service-oriented programs; to improve access of farmers to information and services throughout the crop cycle and enhance the reach and impact of extension services; to build upon, enhance and integrate the existing ICT initiatives of the Centre and States; to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of programs through providing timely and relevant information to the farmers for increasing their agriculture productivity.

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Features of the Green Revolution 

Given below are the features of the Green Revolution: 

• The most effective feature of all was the introduction of HYV seeds in Indian agriculture. The seeds proved to be highly effective in the regions with fluent irrigation facilities, thus, the first stage was focused on Punjab and Tamil Nadu. 
• In the second stage of the scheme, other states were included too and seeds for various crops other than wheat were used.
• This Revolution initiated the use of an inland irrigation system as the country cannot depend only on monsoon for their water needs.
• The plan mainly focused on the production of food grains like wheat, rice, etc and commercial crops like jute, cotton, oilseeds etc. were prohibited from the plan.
• It promoted the use of fertilizers and manures while limiting the use of pesticides and weedicides in order to avoid any sort of crop damage.
• The use of technologically advanced machinery like tractors, drills, harvesters, etc was implemented.

Do you know? Another Important Revolution in India is the Golden Revolution which is referred to as a period of agricultural development in India which integrally focused on the development of horticulture and honey production. 

Impact of the Green Revolution on India

Understand the aftermath of the Green Revolution in India and how it impacted and benefitted millions of people in the country through the following points: 

• Enhancing Agricultural Production: There was a great boom in the production of grains especially wheat as it increased from 11 million tonnes in 1960 to 55 million tonnes in 1990.
• Increase in Acre Yield: The major impact of this Revolution can be seen whilst measuring the per acre production of crops that recorded a jaw-dropping spike of 850 kg/hectare to 2281 kg/hectare.
• Independence in Terms of Import: With the hike in production, adequate stocks were assembled for emergencies. This led to the exemption of imports and India began exporting.
• Employment: As the scheme involved transportation, irrigation, food processing, marketing and various other opportunities; the Green Revolution helped people combat unemployment.
• Relief to the Farmers: The miserable conditions of farmers due to the depletion of the agricultural sector were no longer the same. Farmers not only experienced a hike in their income but also started earning luxuries. 

What are the Drawbacks of the Green Revolution?

 Even after being recognized as one of the most significant developments in the agricultural sector across the globe, the Green Revolution also had some drawbacks. Mentioned below are the drawbacks of this Revolution in India.

• A major imbalance was seen amongst the food grains. Auto greens like wheat, rice, bajra, jowar and maize would be a part of the plan but it mainly empowered wheat.
• HYV seeds for crops like pulses, oilseeds, cereals, etc are not developed yet or they are not highly efficient. 
• Regional disparities began to ignite with the widespread Green Revolution. As it only benefited areas like Punjab, Haryana, Western UP, and Tamil Nadu; the entire Eastern region- West Bengal, Orissa, Assam, etc are completely untouched. 
• This revolution also has a severe impact on the soil as repetitive production of the same crop on the same soil results in soil depletion.

“The green revolution has an entirely different meaning to most people in the affluent nations of the privileged world than to those in the developing nations of the forgotten world.”
– Norman Borlaug

Advantages and Disadvantages

The following are the major advantages and disadvantages of the green revolution in India.

Advantages	Disadvantages
It also helps us with predictable yields.	Decreased the quality of the soil.
Reduced production costs and resulted in cheaper food prices.	Had a few side effects on health.
The agricultural industry was able to produce much larger quantities of food.	The use of chemical fertilizers and synthetic herbicides increased environmental and soil pollution.
An increase in productivity made it possible to feed the increasing population.	This excessive use also led to the erosion of soil.

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Green Revolution Around the World

Having begun in Mexico, the Green Revolution was established and had an impact in various countries. Let’s check out the many places where the revolution took place and what were the effects.

Mexico

Mexico has been called the birthplace of the Green Revolution and was led by the Mexican government in 1943, under the Presidential order and finance of Mexican President Manuel Ávila Camacho. The Green Revolution helped Mexico solve its problem of lack of food self-sufficiency by making an effort to transform agricultural productivity, particularly with irrigated rather than dry-land cultivation in its northwest. 

China

The excessive population growth in China meant that increasing food production like rice was a top priority for the Chinese government. Prominent in the development of productive hybrid rice was Yuan Longping, who has been dubbed “the father of hybrid rice researched hybridized wild strains of rice with existing strains. The Chinese government’s policies gave cultivators technical assistance, access to affordable HYVs, fertilizers, and pesticides, and developed infrastructure. Green Revolution with high yields had given China the amount of food security the country required. 

Africa

Despite successfully presenting the green revolution in Africa, many factors made the establishment of the revolution unsuccessful as compared to other nations. The country had high corruption rates, insecurity, a lack of infrastructure, and a general lack of will on the part of the government. Apart from these factors, environmental factors, such as the availability of water for irrigation, and the high diversity in slope and soil types in one given area also added to the failure of the green revolution in Africa.

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Father of Green Revolution in India: MS Swaminathan

Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan was born on the 7th of August 1925 in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, India. He was a geneticist who led the Green Revolution after studying at the University of Cambridge.

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