Green Revolution: A Comprehensive Analysis of Impacts and Implications

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Green Revolution, encompassing its definition, impacts, and implications on global agriculture. It explores the significant enhancements in agriculture, particularly in rice and wheat production, driven by high-yielding varieties, insecticides, and improved management techniques. The report details both the positive outcomes, such as increased food production and meeting global food demands, and the negative consequences, including groundwater pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and damage to crop genetic diversity. It examines the contributions of modern varieties (MVs) and their impact on yield enhancements in different regions, particularly during the early and late Green Revolution periods. Furthermore, the report discusses the influence of the Green Revolution on rural and national food security, especially in the Global South, and addresses the complexities of the New Green Revolution, including its potential to address hunger and poverty while considering environmental and social costs. The analysis includes a table showcasing crop production growth rates and references to relevant research, concluding with a discussion on the challenges and opportunities associated with achieving agricultural sustainability through precision technologies and addressing disparities in global markets.

Green Revolution

Meaning of Green Revolution:
Green revolution can be elaborated as, the huge enhancement in agriculture for example, rice
and wheat, due to various reasons such as, the development of high-yielding diversities,
usage of insecticides and enhanced management approaches.
The global agriculture production enhanced extremely as an outcome of the new
advancement, during green revolution era. During this time, synthetic herbicides, new
chemical composts and insecticides were innovated. The chemical composts made the
possibility of supplying the crops with extra nutrients. Hence, these are useful for enhancing
the agriculture.
During the green revolution, the newly developed pesticides and herbicides controlled the
weeds in agriculture, and it killed the insects for diseases prevention, which shows the
outcome in terms of the higher productivity in agriculture.
During this time, high-yield harvests were also familiarised and established. These are the
crops, which are designed precisely for extra production. Multiple cropping was an approach,
which was applied during this revolution, and it enhanced the productivity in agriculture.
Multiple cropping is the method, in which a ground is used to cultivate two or more crops
during a year, by which the field has something to growing in it, in a continuous manner.
These new agricultural methods and advancement in farming technology were used by the
growers, globally. Hence, in combination, it strengthened the outcomes of the green
revolution (Study.com, n.d.).
Impacts of Green Revolution:
Due to the green revolution, agriculture fulfilled the food requirement of the entire world
population. However, the population has doubled during the previous four eras. But it has
some disadvantages as well; it involves the ground water pollution, greenhouse gases
release, damage in crop genetic diversity and contaminations in the lakes, river, streams
and the coastal marine ecosystems.
It is quite unclear till now, that the high intensity agriculture can be continued, because it
shows various negative outcomes such as, soil fertility loss, soil erosion, enhancement in
the crop illnesses and high energy chemical connected with it (Tilman, 1998).

On the other hand, the adoption of MVs or modern varieties enhanced the production and
yield. This enhancement can be observed from past 40 years. The production enhancement
was due to the MVs contributions and the contribution of other parameters such as, irrigation,
fertilizer, labour and mechanization etc. (Evenson and Gollin, 2003).
It is investigated that this method was useful in “early green revolution period” (1961 - 1980)
and the “late green revolution period” (1981-2000). MVs show their contributions in Latin
America and Asia, in a substantial manner. It is very less in other areas. MVs have calculated
as 21% growth in yields and 17% development in the early green revolution era. The zone
extension has calculated at approximate 20% of the production enhancement. Rest of the
production intensified due to the utilized inputs.
The yield development has calculated almost the entire enhancement in food production in
the developing nations as 86%. Furthermore, it is investigated that the MV involvement for
the yield development was advanced in late green revolution era in comparison with the early
green revolution era. It has calculated that approximate 50% of the yield development and
40% of the production development has done by using MV in all developing nations. This
data indicates that the grain production was more reliant on on MVS in late green revolution
era, and these MVs assistances were higher in the late period.
Influence on rural and national food security in the global south:
The new green revolution was outspread in early 2000s, and it is continues to outspread today
as well. It will be continue to see the impacts of green revolution on different areas such as,
continent’s regional and national agriculture system, rural livelihoods and local agro
ecologies (Dawson, Martin and Sikor, 2016).
However, its specific significances for nutrition and food safety, at household level remain
unclear. Except the food security goals centrality to New Green Revolution discourses and
projects, there are a lot of uncertainties, which remained around the market, policy and social
mechanisms. These uncertainties will translate the enhanced crop yields and these also
income with the improved access to a notorious food supply for all. By conceptualizing the
food insecurity principle, on the basis of market access and crop yields, new green revolution
model works as an antecedent of the first green revolution, as it overlooks on various
parameters, which provides their contribution on malnutrition or hunger or the hunger

vulnerability. These parameters are socioeconomic, political and biophysical dynamics
(Moseley, 2017).
From the late 1960s, the green revolution shows the outcomes in form of transformation in
food security, livelihoods and the agricultural production in south and Southeast Asia. These
transformation results can still feel throughout these areas (Martin-Guay et al., 2018).
The farm inputs subsidies, which are required for promoting the adoption of high yield
varieties, became controversial in 1980-1990. These farm input subsidies were introduce
during the green revolution from 1960-1970. The international monetary fund and the World
Bank started the elimination or reduction in agricultural subsidies, which frequently
accounted the large portion of central government budget. It was an attempt for reduce the
government expenditures from the developing countries of Global south.
The fiscal reformation program imposed the notable hardship on various smallholder farmers.
This program was also known as the Washington Consensus during green revolution era.
During this time, these farmers lost the affordable access of the critical inputs such as, energy
and fertilisers. Many of the farmers were also harmed due to the variation in monetary policy
and in currency exchange rates, which were implemented in the conjunction with the fiscal
reformation program (FutureLearn, n.d.).
Crop Production
1949-1965
Production
1967-1978
Area
1949-1965
Area
1967-1978
Yield(%
per annum)
1949-1965
Yield(%
per annum)
1967-1978
Food-
grains
2.98 2.40 1.34 0.38 1.61 1.53
Non-food 3.65 2.70 2.52 1.01 1.06 1.15
All Crops 3.20 2.50 1.60 0.55 1.60 1.40
Rice 3.37 2.21 1.26 0.74 2.09 1.46
Wheat 3.07 5.73 2.70 3.10 1.24 2.53
Pulses 1.62 0.20 1.87 0.75 0.24 0.42
Table.1 Production growth compound rates (Shiva, 2016, pp.11–257)

A 'new' green revolution unfolding today:
During December 2017, it is investigated that the global population exceeded by 7.6 billion.
The estimation by the scientists shows that the global population will reach at 9 million by
2050 as shown in the figure. Due to the societal concerns about the global population, the
WHO introduced 16 sustainable development goals, which target 67 countries. These
countries include the 75% of overall population (Bell, 2018).
The first two aims are ending the world hunger and poverty. For accomplishing these goals,
the World Bank understands that the global improvement in the agricultural prosperity is very
important. For improving the agricultural prosperity, worldwide policy makers are calling for
the NGR. However, the increased investments in the agricultural investigations and on the
environmental and social costs of the green revolution should be addressed. Then only, it
would be possible to achieve the global agricultural sustainability with NGR.
On worldwide basis, the technology boost up from the timing of green revolution, and it led
to intensify the agricultural practices across various agro-climatic and political boundaries. It
is investigated that the agricultural achievements of the green revolution concealed the
agricultural inequalities in the remaining geographical areas especially in Africa.
However, there are various opportunities for agricultural improvement in Africa, the
agricultural practices intensification across the vast geographic areas, which follow the green
revolution, have shown the outcomes in form of soil degradation, aquifers depletion and
marine dead zones (Bell, 2018).
An NGR must implement the intensive agricultural practices, without the social and
environmental consideration of environmental and social imbalances, because it has the
potential to succeed the 21st century farming enterprises as mentioned in the researches by
various researchers (Coneway, 2019).

Figure.1 Increase in global population to 9 billion by 2050 (Bell, 2018)
Conclusion:
If the improvements in the agricultural production are on the basis of end of poverty and
hunger, then the profitability will be the main component in terms of agricultural
sustainability. The adoption of new precision technologies has the ability to reduce the land
degradation and optimize crop water usage, globally.
Although, the research has shown the positive social and environmental impacts of adopting
the precision technologies, but the technology cost with data interpretation and management
can impact the technological adoption in some places.
There are various challenges, which are faced by NGR, are shown below:
 Production of more food with less water, however, it minimizes the expansion of
cropland.
 Disparities addressing in worldwide markets.
Anew green revolution is mandatory not only for improving the local basis of farmers in the
developed nations, where the fewer profit margins are forcing the farmers for leaving their

businesses, but it is also mandatory for minimizing the hunger and poverty of developing
nations.

References
Bell, J.M. (2018). THE POTENTIAL OF THE NEW GREEN REVOLUTION. Proceedings
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Conway, G., 2019. The doubly Green Revolution: food for all in the twenty-first century.
Cornell University Press.
Dawson, N., Martin, A. and Sikor, T., 2016. Green revolution in Sub-Saharan Africa:
implications of imposed innovation for the wellbeing of rural smallholders. World
Development, 78, pp.204-218.
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https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/food-systems-southeast-asia/1/steps/112577.
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sustainable intensification of agriculture by intercropping. Science of the Total
Environment, 615, pp.767-772.
Moseley, W.G. (2017). The New Green Revolution for Africa: A Political Ecology
Critique. Brown Journal of World Affairs, xxiii(ii), pp.177–190.
Shiva, V. (2016). The violence of the green revolution. Kentucky: University press of
Kentucky, pp.11–257.
Study.com. (n.d.). What Is the Green Revolution? - Definition, Benefits, and Issues - Video &
Lesson Transcript. [online] Available at: https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-the-
green-revolution-definition-benefits-and-issues.html#transcriptHeader.
Tilman, D., 1998. The greening of the green revolution. [online] 396(6708), p.211. Available
at: <http://faculty.bennington.edu/~kwoods/classes/readings_11/Tilman%20-%201998%20-
%20The%20greening%20of%20the%20green%20revolution.pdf> [Accessed 7 April 2020].