Tube wells require electrical pumps to pull the water out of underground aquifers. Alas, use of chemical fertilizers and herbicides and pesticides dramatically changed the environment by increasing pollution and erosion. Essay on Tourism in India for Children Student Please check your green revolution essay. As second or third crops are planted each year, rice growing land is inundated with water for longer portions of the year, green revolution essay. The risk caused by chronic, low level exposures to farm chemicals is intensified when they are present in runoffs, where they pollute both surface and groundwater.
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GREEN p. Fitzgerald-Moore and B. Parai Foreword This chapter started life as lecture notes and graphical displays prepared by Douglas H. will writing service hsbc. We wish to thank the following who provided additional input : Parampreet Singh Sekhon; Ravi Bhalla ; and Zaheer Baber. Research is still in progress; many reference materials are not locally available; the paper must therefore be treated as an incomplete first draft. Introduction The Green Revolution was the technological response to green revolution essay world-wide food shortage which became threatening in the period after WWII. The Green Revolution transformed farming practice in many regions of the tropics and sub-tropics where the principal food crops were rice, wheat and maize, but the brief account that follows will be mainly focused on the Indian sub-continent.
The ambivalence which is characteristic of all technology is expressed in this example by undesired ecological consequences, which are well documented, and by socio-economic consequences about which there is much less agreement. Severe droughts in the mids threatened famine which was averted only by substantial shipments of food grains from the United States. One of the great barriers to increased grain production in hot countries is that when traditional plants are heavily fertilized, they shoot up to an unnatural height and then collapse. If they are grown closely enough together to prevent this, one plant shades the other and the yield is reduced. During the Mexican experiments, however, and after tests involving 40, crossbreeds of plant, it was found that if a short stemmed grain were thickly sown at the right depth and adequately irrigated, it could take massive doses of fertilizer without becoming lanky and give spectacularly high yields.
In the International Rice Research Institute was set up in the Philippines to find a green revolution essay as miraculous as the Pitic 62 and Penjamo 62 wheats, rice being at that time the main item of diet for six out of every ten people in the world. Early trials of short-stemmed rice produced strains susceptible to the stem borer but eventually strains were produced with inbred resistance to some of the worst pests. The introduction of these new high yielding varieties HYVs of wheat, rice and maize became known as the Green Revolution. HYVs were not the product of genetic engineering: they were the result of traditional plant breeding methods, in which hybrids are produced by cross pollinating unrelated parents.
Where they were properly introduced, HYVs resulted in increased crop production and reduced dependency on food imports Production Increase Due to their ability green revolution essay respond with higher yields to increasing application of fertilizer and, in part, to their ability to produce two, sometimes even three, crops a year, HYV seeds have brought real and substantial increases in production. By it had risen to 4. In India, production more than doubled between and During this period, total annual grain production rose from 77 Mt to The introduction of HYVs spread rapidly. Presently, the HYV IR36 rice plant, developed by the International Rice Research Institute IRRIis planted on about 11 million hectares worldwide, making it the most widely grown variety of any crop, green revolution essay.
As intended, these seeds have decreased the reliance of developing countries on food grain imports, in spite of population increases, though these have delayed and to some extent neutralized the green revolution essay Fig. Chemical Fertilizer Indonesia and India both provide examples of the increasing use of artificial fertilizers associated with HYV seeds. In India Fig. Note that in each case the steepness of the curves is purely a function of the plotting scale. In Green Revolution HYV farming it is a necessity. HYVs require greater concentrations of water for longer periods of the year than do traditional crops, moreover, where HYVs have been introduced they have often replaced crops such as millets and oilseeds which require little water.
Between and4. million new hectares came under irrigation worldwide. Between and9 million new hectares were provided with irrigation. The two sources of irrigated agricultural water, in India, are tube wells and canals. Tube wells require electrical pumps to pull the water out of underground aquifers. Canals are supplied by dammed reservoirs. Therefore the Green Revolution has necessitated an increase in the construction of tube wells, dams, green revolution essay, and canals. By it had grown to 39 million hectares. The expansion of the irrigated area, green revolution essay, intended to allow greater exploitation of the yield potential of the new varieties19, green revolution essay, was made possible by green revolution essay constructed dams and by green revolution essay wells drilled by individual farmers.
Pesticides With the increased production of cash-crops in India, pesticide use has substantially increased, green revolution essay. In the mids about 2 t of pesticides were used annually: by the mids more than 80 t. Traditional varieties, over time, build up a resistance to locally occurring pests and diseases. When diseases do occur, varied strains will ensure that not all plants green revolution essay GREEN p. However, green revolution essay, this is not the case with genetically uniform HYVs. Likewise, traditional farming practices include crop rotation which prevents infestations from getting firmly established. This includes the use of tractors, mechanical threshers and electric pumps.
Tractors in Punjab, for example, increased from 1, in to oversome thirty years later. Thus, support systems which provide monetary loans are created, providing farmers with the means green revolution essay purchase the new seeds, fertilizers, water credits for canal use and power for pumps used in tube wells. Marketing systems are also created to allow former subsistence farmers to sell their crops, often in order to service their loans and to provide them with an outlet through which they can urchase fertilizers or equipment. Thus there is a transformation from subsistence to commercial agriculture Ecological Impacts Amongst the ecological insults green revolution essay by the green revolution, the following have been identified: deteriorating soil quality; the overuse of water, poisoning from biocides and decreasing genetic diversity.
Soil The Green Green revolution essay, like all commercialized agriculture, tends to reduce the natural fertility of the soil. Because HYVs grow and mature faster, a second or third crop can be grown each year. Chemical i. Chemical fertilizers do not usually replace necessary trace elements in the soil. Moreover, the use of dwarf green revolution essay leads to a reduction of the straw that is available to recycle organic matter into the soil. As HYVs are engineered to grow more efficiently, a larger portion of the plant becomes grain and less is subsequently available for fertilizer or green revolution essay feed.
Both salinization and water logging occur when agricultural land is over irrigated. As second or third crops are planted each year, rice growing land is inundated with water for longer portions of the year. This situation is made worse by badly maintained irrigation canals. The problem is that, without adequate drainage, water tables may be raised to the root zone, starving the plants of oxygen and inhibiting their growth. By reducing naturally occurring organisms, chemical inputs allow disease to build up in the soils. Intensive, commercial agriculture contributes to additional GREEN p. These soil problems include soil erosion resulting from irrigation on sloped land, reduced soil nutrient content, and over compaction of soil from the use of heavy machinery.
A perfect balance has been reached between the manurial requirements of the crops harvested and the natural processes which recuperate fertility. He does more with a little nitrogen than any farmer I ever heard of. We need not concern ourselves with soil deterioration in these provinces. The present standard of fertility can be maintained indefinitely. The heavy water use required by HYVs called for increased irrigation but in many areas this has led to water being overused. Tube wells used to irrigate HYV crops have led to green revolution essay down problems on the water table. As annual draft exceeds hydrological recharge rates, what S. In Punjab, groundwater balance is negative in six out of twelve regions, green revolution essay.
Today, in the same places water has receded below feet. All the above experiences are from the town of Patti, District Amritsar, Punjab, green revolution essay, India. As underground aquifers are further depleted by tube wells, submersible pumps are replacing centrifugal pumps, which are effective only to a certain depth. The move to submersible pumps has been made by more prosperous farmers who generally have large operational land holdings. The use of this method can draw the water table down to even greater depths. As a result, all farmers in an area may be forced to upgrade their pumps or GREEN p. Yet, if all farmers switch to submersible pumps, which are much more energy intensive than centrifugal pumps, the groundwater exploitation rate will be intensified.
In Punjab, the groundwater balance is precarious in three-fourths of the total area. Water overdraft for irrigation threatens the sustainability of the irrigation system itself. They have a great effect on human life as new dams often require the displacement of large numbers of people. Ecologically, the effect of dams and canals is also a concern. Used to increase irrigation to improve agricultural yields, their effect may actually be disadvantageous to agriculture. For dams and canals greatly change the natural occurrence of water, leading to a possible impact upon climate, rainfall and monsoon patterns. The use of short-stemmed varieties had another unexpected consequence in Bangladesh where they exhibited greater likelihood of flood damage in low-lying areas.
Biocides Pesticides and herbicides are designed to kill pests and weeds that threaten crops. However, these biocides are a health hazard to the farmers who work with them, and also to the general population as a result of residues in green revolution essay crops and contamination of drinking water. Many of the biocides exported to third world countries are considered too toxic for use in their countries of origin, green revolution essay. Restricted or prohibited by industrial countries, DDT and benzene hexachloride BHC account for about three-quarters of the total pesticide use in India.
This leak of toxic gas caused 2, deaths. This catastrophe is more dreadful to the public mind than the much larger chronic effects. See chapter on Accidents] These toxins also make their way into people through their food. The World Health Organization WHO has set tolerance limits of pesticide residues in food. Residues of DDT and BHC were both found in all 75 samples of breast milk collected from women in Punjab. However, these suspected carcinogens have not been directly related to an increase in diseases or deaths. Again we quote the direct experience of Parampreet Singh Sekhon: Our daily cereal crops are heavily pesticide infested. We are slowly poisoning ourselves to death, green revolution essay. People are aware of it but lack the green revolution essay to curb pesticide use.
I can cite the case of cow fodder. Cow fodder is also sprayed with pesticides, green revolution essay, sometimes.
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The increase in industrial farms also caused water shortages. All these problems could lead to political unrest and start the cycle of communism again. Preventing communism was one of the main reasons this was started in the first place. The people who supported the technology were those with more money such as industrial farmers, corporate owners, or just rich people in general. Those who did not support it were people who were really traditional and refused to break their customs, also as mentioned before farmers who could not afford to make the changes, and environmentalists that did not support the use of many chemicals.
After the introduction of the new wheat, Mexico became self-sufficient, it became a major exporter of wheat. India also became a major exporter of wheat, and with the increase in food production, it was overcoming its famine issue. India later saw a substantial increase in production of wheat from 10 million tons in to 73 million tons in The introduction of this technology helped saved millions of lives in India and improved the land in Mexico, which had a lot of dry-land at the time. Also due to his contribution to humanity, Norman Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. In the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture recruited American agronomist Norman Borlaug along with other scientists with the goal of increasing its wheat production. Borlaug successfully bred a new breed of wheat which were disease-resistant and had higher yield in , making Mexico self-sufficient.
And then in Borlaug was invited to India to continue his research while India was in a war at the time causing minor famine and starvation, his research allowed India to overcome this problem. Remember: This is just a sample from a fellow student. Starting from 3 hours delivery. Sorry, copying is not allowed on our website. We will occasionally send you account related emails. This essay is not unique. Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper. Want us to write one just for you? We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. This essay has been submitted by a student. No other country in the world which attempted the Green Revolution recorded such level of success.
India also became an exporter of food grains around that time. The production of wheat especially, grew rapidly and India was able to meet its wheat demand internally and maintain its buffer stock at the same time. The Green Revolution immensely benefitted India economically. The use of more fertilisers and pesticides spurred the growth of local manufacturing sector. The increase in irrigation created the need for new dams to harness monsoon water. The water stored was used to create hydro-electric power. This in turn boosted industrial growth, created jobs and improved the quality of life of people in villages.
Thus, the regions where Green Revolution took place that is Punjab, Haryana, and Eastern Uttar Pradesh, gained tremendously. Efforts are being made to spread the technology to other parts of the country so that they can also reap the fruits of this technological blessing and the farmers from all over the country can prosper. Also Read:. if you are looking for Jio DTH Booking and Jio DTH Customer care number Jio DTH Channel List. Your email address will not be published. But in a world where the population is increasing exponentially and farmland depleting, feeding the people becomes an impossible task. These situations cause agricultural engineering to act erratically, and ultimately…. Organic farming although it seemed to be better for people and the environment proved to be wrong.
Organic farming only made more of a negative impact on Earth until farmers became more educated about the ways to correctly farm. Farmers should become more educated to know how to make the Earth more…. There is also a strong movement in the United States to move to organic foods and less harmful foods for the land health. These movements in first world nations are fantastic. Advocacy and education would go a long way in helping people have more effective and ecological farming practices. On top of that, due to the limited technology and rural infrastructure, a transition to a more automated agricultural market out be extremely costly.
This would lower the cost of food but if the subsidy was removed, the living cost might not change substantially. However this would free up capital to better implement in the future to promote growth, rather than having to cover food costs per annum. With such a massive population, food production is of the utmost importance. But through the Government subsidizing the cost of food production through manual labor, not only does this promote inefficiency, but prevents the diversification of the workforce, leading to less specialization and is unsustainable within the long run. Besides the obviously good properties and advantages, these organisms have some disadvantages as well, again, considering a longer timescale, considering sustainability, which Collier systematically fails to account for.
The technology is relatively new, therefore the effects ont he long run are hard to predict, and hard to measure. it simply was not around for long enough time to draw conclusions or evaluate the effects on environmental elements with longer lag. He argues, that GM is the solution for growing crops on increasingly arid agricultural lands. It is indeed in correlation with his opinion on industrial agriculture, because big farms and corporations can afford to invest in GM crops and support research on the topic, while small farms can not. There has been a recent debate on whether or not the green revolution should be revived. Although at this time many of the hungry were fed, the green revolution still created problems environmentally.
The green revolution is dangerous and should not repeated, it uses pesticides which have made their way into the lives of the population, synthetic fertilizers which damage the soil, and over irrigation that depletes our water table and strips the soil. Organic farming is a much needed solution to the problems presented by the green revolution, and provides many benefits that the green revolution does not. For a majority of countries around the world, agriculture remains at the forefront of their economic stature. The portion of countries that have moved away from agriculture, tend to work on and improve manufacturing and technology-based businesses.
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