Examining the Green Revolution's Effects in Asian Nations

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of the Green Revolution in Asian countries, detailing its origins, technologies, and impact on agricultural production. The Green Revolution, initiated in the late 1960s, introduced high-yielding varieties of crops, mechanization, and agrochemicals to boost food production, particularly rice and wheat. The essay explores the successes, such as increased grain yields, and challenges, including environmental issues, social inequalities, and the reliance on external inputs like fertilizers and pesticides. It examines the adoption of new technologies and their effects on food security, economic development, and the shift from traditional farming practices. Furthermore, the essay highlights the long-term implications of the Green Revolution, including the decline in land fertility and the need for alternative strategies to achieve sustainable food security in the face of contemporary global challenges like climate change and resource depletion. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of considering local agro-ecosystems and adopting different techniques and strategies for food security.

Running Head: THE GREEN REVOLUTION IS ASIAN COUNTRIES
The Green Revolution in Asian Countries
Name
Institutional affiliation

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ABSTRACT
The Green Revolution was an initiative that resulted in the adoption of new approaches of
cultivations, inkling mechanization, controlled supply of water through irrigation, adoption of
new technologies, in association with agro-chemicals and chemical fertilizers, including high-
yielding varieties of cereals. Asia has normally been cited as a successful continent in the
implementation of the Green Revolution, specifically in the production of rice. Some experts
indicated that without the Green Revolution in the 1970s and 1960s, Asia would have suffered
from the famine. Two categories of technologies were applied in the Green Revolution focused
at breeding and cultivation. The cultivation technologies were targeted at providing perfect
conditions of growth which included synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, pesticides, and modern
irrigation projects. The technologies of breeding focused on promoting varieties of crops
developed through the scientific and conventional-based methods at the time.

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The Green Revolution in Asian Countries
The Green Revolution is a set of transfer initiatives of research technology occurring between the
late 1960s and 1950, which promoted global agricultural production, specifically in the
developing countries. The initiative led to the adoption of new approaches of cultivations,
inkling mechanization, controlled supply of water through irrigation, adoption of new
technologies, in association with agro-chemicals and chemical fertilizers, including high-yielding
varieties of cereals, particularly rice and dwarf wheat1. The Green Revolution led to the
introduction of high-yielding varieties of staple food crops, specifically rice and wheat with the
initial target being Philippines, India, and Mexico.
Asia has normally been cited as a successful continent in the implementation of the Green
Revolution, specifically in the production of rice. Some bureaucrats and experts indicated that
without the Green Revolution in the 1970s and 1960s, Asia would have suffered from the
famine. The major achievement of the Green Revolution in Asia is the increase in the production
grain. For instance, the production of rice increases, and numerous experts attributed that to
chemical input and HYV seeds2.
The Green Revolution extended technologies that existed already, however, they had not
implemented widely outside the nations that were industrialized. Two categories of technologies
were applied in the GR focused at breeding and cultivation. The cultivation technologies are
targeted at providing perfect conditions of growth which included synthetic nitrogen fertilizer,
pesticides, and modern irrigation projects3. The technologies of breeding focused on promoting
1 Rahman, S., Begum, I. & Jahangir, M., 2012. Re-examining green revolution diffusion and factor/input markets in
Bangladesh after market liberalization. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, Volume 33, pp. 241-254.
2 Debasree, D., 2015. The Impact of the Green Revolution on Adivasi Women of Eastern India. Asian Man (The) - An
International Journal, Volume 9, p. 92.
3 Gurudeeban, S., 2014. Green Revolution towards Nanobiotechnology. Journal of Nanomedicine Research, Volume
2.

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varieties of crops developed through the scientific and conventional-based methods at the time.
These technologies included a combination of modern genetics with selections and hybrids.
The development of technology of the GR in Asian countries was the production of new wheat
cultivars. High-yielding varieties generally refer to the agronomists bred cultivars of rice, wheat,
and maize and have a higher potential of nitrogen absorption compared to other varieties. When
there was a food crisis in Asia in the 1960s, the spread of High-yielding varieties of rice
intensely aggravated4. The plant scientists identified numerous parameters concerning the high
yield and recognized genes which control the tiller number and plant height. The high-yielding
varieties outperformed significantly conventional varieties in the presence of sufficient
fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation.
The yields of wheat, maize, and rice increase steadily increased during this period. This increase
in production can be roughly attributed equally to seed development, fertilizer, and irrigation for
the case of Asian rice. While the output of agriculture increased due to the Green Revolution, the
input energy to produce a crop increased faster, hence the ratio of produced crops to input energy
has reduced over time5. The techniques Green Revolution also rely heavily on machines,
herbicides, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers, which are derived from or depend on crude oil,
making agriculture progressively reliant on the extraction of crude oil.
Although high-yielding varieties are bred to resist environmental stress, diseases, and insects,
when cultivated over a huge area, there become susceptible to pests. When one cultivar like IR
36 rice, cover huge sections of fields, an infestation can extent, as was the instance of Indonesia.
The rice fields of area 1.5 million ha in the cultivation area of Bali, Sumatra, and Java islands
4 Marchesi, G., 2016. The Other Green Revolution: Land Epistemologies and the Mexican Revolutionary State.
Antipode, Volume 49, pp. 1060-1078.
5 Hoskins, M., 2009. THE GREEN REVOLUTION AND CROPPING INTENSITY. Institute of Development Studies
Bulletin, Volume 5, pp. 43-50.

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were infested tungro virus after an infestation of the brown hopper in 1977. The pest had become
resistant to pesticides by that period6. The replacement of IR36 variety with IR64 variety did not
provide the solution since R64 had already become vulnerable to stem borer after sometimes.
From this experience, it was clear that the intensive triple or double mono-cropping or rice has
resulted in reductions in rice growth and degradation of the paddy micro-environment in
numerous areas of irrigation in Australia. The problems include waterlogging and salinity, the
build-up of soil toxicity, reduction in nutrient carrying capacity of the soil, increased mining of
soil micronutrients, and pest infestation7. Therefore, regions that have not experienced the GR
system and intensification need to undertake a different technique and strategy to attain food
security.
The Asian Government applied the Green Revolution as the only technology for the production
of food during the 1970s, to the inclusion of any other thing. Institutional support, policy, and
funding were majorly directed towards GR. The potential present systems and technologies at the
academic and farm levels were assumed such as multi-cropping, companion planting, alternative
green manure, crop rotation, and the system of rice intensification8.
The Green Revolution is normally thought of only as innovation technologically. This system
has, however, a social construct that is against production in small-scale and has effects on food
security. For example, the increase in production happens greatly in farms that are larger since
small farmers cannot afford to purchase inputs that are expensive. The disparity in the benefit
distribution is very clear, even at national level9. It has been reported that the Green Revolution
6 Tyagi, A., 2016. Towards a Second Green Revolution. Irrigation and Drainage, Volume 65, pp. 388-389.
7 Archibald, M., 2009. GENOMICS: Green Evolution, Green Revolution. Science, Volume 324, pp. 191-192.
8 SELVAM, V. & BALAMURUGAN, M., 2017. Smart computing trends towards green revolution. ASIAN SCIENCE,
Volume 12, pp. 26-31.
9 Jain, N. & Yadav, R., 2009. Genetic diversity analysis among pre-green revolution, post-green revolution era
cultivars, and wheat landraces as revealed by microsatellite markers. Crop and Pasture Science, Volume 60, p. 373.

THE GREEN REVOLUTION 6
technology covered much of the areas irrigated in Asia, but cannot be intensified or extended
easily because of institutional obstacles and deficiencies in infrastructure. Therefore, this
technology promoted community and national inequality.
One of the most significant factors in the decline in the production of rice over the last few years
in Asian countries. Numerous fertile lands, specifically in the islands that are more developed,
have been converted into housing facilities, tourism facilities, and industrial complexes. This
occurrence came after the Green Revolution success when the government made a decision to
focus on industrial development10. The industrial planning was done in the same regions where
the GR system was developed instead of planning for it in regions that are not very fertile,
majorly the islands of Bali, Sumatra, and Java. Consequently, agriculture has to compete with
industrial development for land and water. Since industrial; development is normally more rapid
compared to the development in agriculture, an imbalance is produced between rural and urban
development11. This resulted in urbanization, specifically among the young generation. The GR
could not find a solution to this in Asia.
CONCLUSION
From this literature is that the most significant considerations may be concerning local agro-
ecosystems and what they provide, and not the application of technologies that are established
from the local system. The development of agro-ecosystem may be more significant compared to
any revolution. The world has changed compared to the GR adopted in Asia in the 1960s since
there are currently numerous crises of finance, globalization, climate change, and natural
10 Chen, H., 2011. Technological Momentum and the Hegemony of the Green Revolution: A Case Study of an
Organic Rice Cooperative in Taiwan. East Asian Science, Technology and Society, Volume 5, pp. 135-172.
11 Santos, G., 2011. Rethinking the Green Revolution in South China: Technological Materialities and Human-
Environment Relations. East Asian Science, Technology and Society, Volume 5, pp. 479-504.

THE GREEN REVOLUTION 7
resource depletion. A different strategy is required to established food security and agriculture
for nations and communities.
REFERENCES
Archibald, M., 2009. GENOMICS: Green Evolution, Green Revolution. Science, Volume 324, pp. 191-192.
Chen, H., 2011. Technological Momentum and the Hegemony of the Green Revolution: A Case Study of
an Organic Rice Cooperative in Taiwan. East Asian Science, Technology and Society, Volume 5, pp. 135-
172.
Debasree, D., 2015. The Impact of Green Revolution on Adivasi Women of Eastern India. Asian Man
(The) - An International Journal, Volume 9, p. 92.

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Gurudeeban, S., 2014. Green Revolution towards Nanobiotechnology. Journal of Nanomedicine
Research, Volume 2.
Hoskins, M., 2009. THE GREEN REVOLUTION AND CROPPING INTENSITY. Institute of Development
Studies Bulletin, Volume 5, pp. 43-50.
Jain, N. & Yadav, R., 2009. Genetic diversity analysis among pre-green revolution, post-green revolution
era cultivars, and wheat landraces as revealed by microsatellite markers. Crop and Pasture Science,
Volume 60, p. 373.
Marchesi, G., 2016. The Other Green Revolution: Land Epistemologies and the Mexican Revolutionary
State. Antipode, Volume 49, pp. 1060-1078.
Rahman, S., Begum, I. & Jahangir, M., 2012. Re-examining green revolution diffusion and factor/input
markets in Bangladesh after market liberalization. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, Volume 33,
pp. 241-254.
Santos, G., 2011. Rethinking the Green Revolution in South China: Technological Materialities and
Human-Environment Relations. East Asian Science, Technology and Society, Volume 5, pp. 479-504.
SELVAM, V. & BALAMURUGAN, M., 2017. Smart computing trends towards green revolution. ASIAN
SCIENCE, Volume 12, pp. 26-31.
Tyagi, A., 2016. Towards a Second Green Revolution. Irrigation and Drainage, Volume 65, pp. 388-389.