Table of ContentsContents 1

Brief History 2

Significance 2-3

Green Revolution and Pakistan 3

Some other Facts about Green Revolution Associated with Pakistan………………………………………………………………………………… 3-4

References 4-5

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Green Revolution

The term Green Revolution refers to the renovation of agricultural practices beginning in Mexico in the 1940s. Because of its success in producing more agricultural products there, Green Revolution technologies spread worldwide in the 1950s and 1960s, significantly increasing the amount of calories produced per acre of agriculture. It was the technological response to a world-wide food shortage which became threatening in the period after WWII.

Brief History

The beginnings of the Green Revolution are often attributed to Norman Borlaug, an American scientist interested in agriculture. In the 1940s, he began conducting research in Mexico and developed new disease resistance high-yield varieties of wheat. With the experience of agricultural development begun in Mexico by Norman Borlaug in 1943 judged as a success, the Rockefeller Foundation sought to spread the Green Revolution to other nations. By combining Borlaug's wheat varieties with new mechanized agricultural technologies, Mexico was able to produce more wheat than was needed by its own citizens, leading to its becoming an exporter of wheat by the 1960s. Prior to the use of these varieties, the country was importing almost half of its wheat supply. Due to the success of the Green Revolution in Mexico, its technologies spread worldwide in the 1950s and 1960s. The United States for instance, imported about half of its wheat in the 1940s but after using Green Revolution technologies, it became self-sufficient in the 1950s and became an exporter by the 1960s. In order to continue using Green Revolution technologies to produce more food for a growing population worldwide, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Ford Foundation, as well as many government agencies around the world funded increased research. In 1963 with the help of this funding, Mexico formed an international research institution called The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center. Countries all over the world in turn benefited from the Green Revolution work conducted by Borlaug and this research institution. India for example was on the brink of mass famine in the early 1960s because of its rapidly growing population. Borlaug and the Ford Foundation then implemented research there and they developed a new variety of rice, IR8, which produced more grain per plant when grown with irrigation and fertilizers. Today, India is one of the world's leading rice producers and IR8 rice usage spread throughout Asia in the decades following the rice's development in India. The term "Green Revolution" was first used in 1968 by former USAID director William Gaud, who noted the spread of the new technologies and said, "These and other developments in the field of agriculture contain the makings of a new revolution. It is not a violent Red Revolution like that of the Soviets, nor is it a White Revolution like that of the Shah of Iran. I call it the Green Revolution."

Significance

The revolution occurred in agriculture sector by following the agriculture inventions and innovations. The agriculture inventions and innovations are concerned with the high yielding seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, sprays, and the intensive use of water resources, use of tractors, harvesters, threshers, and change in the outlook of the farmers. Thus, because of green revolution the better seeds, fertilizers, water, and modern technology becomes available. As a result of such all, the production function is transformed. Because of

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such transformation, the per acre yield of the crop is increased. Thus we find that it is the green revolution which brings technical changes in the agriculture sector. Such changes are of two types: (1) Biological changes, (2) Mechanical changes. The Biological changes are concerned with those factors which result in increasing the productivity of the land — as the case of high yielding variety (HYV) seeds, more use of fertilizers, the changes in cropping patterns. The Mechanical changes are concerned with more use of machinery on farms, i.e. the use of tractors, harvesters, and bulldozers etc. on the lands. Because of such mechanical changes the ratio of capital to labor changes on the lands. Thus we conclude that all those input changes which result in enhancing the productivity of lands, and increasing agricultural outputs are associated with “Green Revolution in Agriculture” In addition to producing larger quantities of food, the Green Revolution was also beneficial because it made it possible to grow more crops on roughly the same amount of land with a similar amount of effort. This reduced production costs and also resulted in cheaper prices for food in the market.

The ability to grow more food on the same amount of land was also beneficial to the environment because it meant that less forest or natural land needed to be converted to farmland to produce more food. This is demonstrated by the fact that from 1961 to 2008, as the human population increased by 100% and the production of food rose by 150%, the amount of forests and natural land converted to farm only increased by 10%. The natural land that is currently not needed for agricultural land is safe for the time being, and can be utilized by animals and plants for their natural habitat.

Green Revolution and Pakistan

In 1965, the new seeds of wheat were cultivated on just 12 thousand acres of land which rose to 7129000 acres of land in 1969– 70. In 1966– 67, the rice seed “In i Pak” was cultivated on 5000 acres of land which rose to 1239000 acres of land. In 1965 – 66, the hybrid seed of maize was cultivated on 10,000 acres of land which, rose to 375000 acres of land in 1968 – 69. The bumper crops of wheat, rice, and maize are not only attributed to HYV, but the contribution of chemical fertilizers and tube wells also counts very much. Again the pesticides and tractors also played their role in boosting agriculture output. In 1960 – 61, in spite of subsidies, the use of fertilizers was 31000 nutrient tons which rose to 248000 nutrient tons in 1968 – 69. In 1960 – 61, the private tube wells were 6295 which rose to 75720 in 1969 – 70. The greater effects of GR were realized in case of wheat, rice, and maize. In 1965– 66, the total production of wheat was 3854000 tons which went to 7123000 tons in 1969 – 70. The production of rice which was 1272000 tons in 1965 – 66 increased to 2372000 tons in 1969 – 70. The production of maize went to 567000 tons from 531000 tons in the above mentioned periods.

Some Facts about Pakistan Associated with Green Revolution

The most important feature of the new technology was that it required the timely application of a combination of HYV seeds, chemical fertilizers, and irrigation water. This meant that rich farmers who had the financial capability to ensure the right quantities of the input package and its timely application could achieve greater cropping intensity and higher yields per acre compared to poorer farmers. In the context of Pakistan’s agrarian structure, it was found to have social, economic, and ecological affects. Thus the new technology not only affected the rate of economic growth by specifying a new relationship between inputs and outputs, but also affected the nature of economic growth by changing the relationship between social groups, the distribution of income, and the ecological environment. The Green Revolution technology itself was scale neutral, yet it increased economic and social inequality because it was adopted within an agrarian structure characterized by a highly unequal distribution of land ownership. The large land owners attracted by the high profitability made possible by the HYV technology, tended to resume their formerly rented out land for cultivation themselves on large farms with tractors. This land

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resumption resulted in a polarization in the size distribution of farms together with increased landlessness of the poor peasants. The percentage share of both large farms (over 150 acres), and small sized farms (less than 7.5 acres) increased while that of lower medium sized farms (7.5 to 25 acres) decreased. The reason was that the land resumption hit medium sized farms relatively more than small sized farms. The evidence shows that during the period 1961 to 1973 as many as 794,042 peasants entered the category of wage laborers, which constituted 43 percent of the total agricultural laborers in Pakistan. Following the Green Revolution, as landowners began to resume rented out land operate their own farms with hired labor and capital investment, the growth of capitalist farming was accelerated. However instead of being accompanied by a growing independence of the poor peasantry (as in Europe), in Pakistan, capitalism in agriculture was accompanied by increased social and economic dependence of the poor peasants on the land owners. The local institutions for the development of agriculture inputs and for the sale of output are heavily influenced by the big landlords. Consequently, the poor peasants in order to acquire inputs, credit, and even the rental of tube-well water often depend on the landlord. This means for the landlords increased leverage and for the peasants intensified dependence. Recent evidence suggests that as many as 38.5 percent of poor peasants are obliged to work on the landlord’s farm without a wage. Apart from increasing interpersonal income inequality the Green Revolution in Pakistan also resulted in regional economic disparities. This is because the yield increase associated with the adoption of HYV seeds required irrigation, and since the Punjab and Sindh had a relatively larger proportion of their area under irrigation, they experienced much faster growth in their incomes compared to Baluchistan and the KPK. For the same reason the intra provincial regional income Disparities between the irrigated and non-irrigated districts also increased. Recent evidence suggests that soil degradation resulting from improper agricultural practices in the post Green Revolution period is a major factor in the observed decline in the yield response to input use in Pakistan’s agriculture.

References

1. Burki, Shahid Javed, 1999. Pakistan: Fifty Years of Nationhood, Vanguard Books, Lahore.

2. Byerlee, Derek, Agricultural Productivity in Pakistan, Problems, and Potential, World Bank Agriculture Sector Review, cited in World Bank Report No. 13092 – PAK.

3. Hamid, Naved and Hussain, Akmal, autumn 1974. Regional Inequalities, and Capitalist Development, Pakistan Economic and Social Review.

4. Hussain, Akmal, 1980. The Impact of Agriculture Growth on the Agrarian Structure of Pakistan with special reference to the Punjab province: 1960 to 1978, D.Phil. thesis, University of Sussex.

5. Hussain, Akmal, 1988. Strategic Issues in Pakistan’s Economic Policy, Progressive Publishers, Lahore.

6. Hussain, Akmal, 1989. Pakistan: Land Reforms Reconsidered, in Hamza Alavi and John Harriss

(ed.), South Asia, Macmillan, London.

7. Nulty, Leslie, 1972. The Green Revolution in West Pakistan, Implications of Technological Change,

Preager Publishers, New York.

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8. Shiva, Vandana, 1991. The Violence of the Green Revolution, Zed Press, London.

9. UNDP-Pakistan National Human Development Report, 2003. Oxford University Press, Karachi.

10. About (2014) Green Revolution - History and Overview [Online] Available From: http://geography.about.com/od/globalproblemsandissues/a/greenrevolution.htm

11. Oregonstate (2014) A. HISTORY [Online] Available From: http://people.oregonstate.edu/~muirp/grrevhis.htm

12. Hub pages (2014) GREEN REVOLUTION [Online] Available From: http://saif113sb.hubpages.com/hub/GREEN-REVOLUTION

13. FM Urdu (2014) Green Revolution In Pakistan | FM Urdu News [Online] Available From: http://www.fmurdu.com/green-revolution-in-pakistan/

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