The Green Revolution in

PUNJAB

The slide is prepared by-

Shashank Agarwal Shivansh Bajaj Shashank Gupta Srikant Sharma Shreya Sinha Shashwat Shalvi Shubham Dubey

WHY GREEN REVOLUTION ???

Between 1947 and 1967, efforts at achieving food self-sufficiency were not entirely successful.

Efforts until 1967 largely concentrated on expanding the farming areas. But starvation deaths were still being reported in the newspapers, population was growing at a much faster rate than food production.

This called for drastic action to increase yield. The action came in the form of the Green Revolution.

GREEN REVOLUTION??? The introduction of

high-yielding varieties of seeds and the increased use of chemical fertilizers and irrigation led to the increase in production needed to make India self-sufficient in food grains, thus improving agriculture in India.

LEADER OF GREEN REVOLUTION

Swaminathan is known as "Indian Father of Green Revolution" for his leadership and success in introducing and further developing high-yielding varieties of wheat in India.

ORIGIN

India was on the brink of mass famine in the early 1960s because of its rapidly growing population.

Famine in India, once accepted as inevitable, has not returned since the introduction of Green Revolution crops.

So introduction of high-yielding varieties of seeds and the increased use of fertilizers and irrigation , which provided the increase in production needed to make India self-sufficient in food grains, thus improving agriculture in India.

“MIRACLE SEED’S” THE CAUSE OF HIGH YIELD

From 10,000 years, farmers had produced their own seeds ,on their own land,

And let nature take it course in renewal and enrichment of seed. In 1950, Borlaug created sem-dwarf seed high yield

seed.This seed bringA new religion of Green Revolution, which

promise abundance through “MIRACLE SEEDS” also known as “HYV(high yield

variety) of seed”. In 1960’s, India agricultural policies were adjusted

to promote and utilisethis new seeds known as New Agricultural

Strategy.

Myth Of High Yield Variety(HYV) The term "high-yielding varieties" is a misnomer,

because it implies that the new seeds are high yielding of themselves. The distinguishing feature of the seeds, however, is that they are highly responsive to certain key inputs such as fertilizers and irrigation water.

In the absence of additional inputs of fertilizers and water, the new seeds perform worse than indigenous varieties. The gain in output is insignificant compared to the increase in inputs. The measurement of output is also biased by restricting it to the marketable elements of crops.

High Yield for loss of Genetic Diversity

In a country like India, crops have traditionally been bred to produce not just food for humans, but fodder for animals and organic fertilizer for soils. In the strategy for the Green Revolution, multiple uses of plant biomass seem to have been consciously sacrificed for a single use.

An increase in the marketable output of grain has been achieved at the cost of a decrease in the biomass available for animals and soils from, for example, stems and leaves, and a decrease in ecosystem productivity due to the over-use of resources.

Positive effects of Green Revolution

Today, Punjab produces 1% of rice, 2% of wheat and 2% of cotton of the world, leading all the states in per hectare yield of all these crops.

Its per capita income (2006) at Rs 28,605 is way above the national average of just Rs 6,929.

Punjab also claims a 100% rural electrification as well as almost 99% connectivity of villages by road against the national average of just over 40%

The real GDP growth of Punjab from 2007-08 to 2008-09 has been about 14% as compared to its neighbor Haryana that grew at about 18% during the same period.

 Since the green revolution in the 1960’s, a period which saw a huge increase in technological advancements and increase in new modern farming practices, it has become the nation’s leader in production of commodities such as rice, wheat and a wide variety of general produce.

Annual Growth Rate Of Food Grain Production B/W 1960-1986

States% growth rate

Punjab6.4

Haryana4.7

Gujrat 3.4

Uttar Pradesh3.2

Rajasthan 2.4

Negative effects of Green Revolution Punjab consumes highest amount of fertilizers in the

country, amounting to almost 10% of the national consumption with just 1.5% of the geographical area of the country.

the water level in Punjab has been falling by 50 to 70 cm every year.

And already, 97% of the cultivable land is under plough indicating no further expansion of the cultivable land. In such a situation, the chances of long term sustainability of the supernatural productivity levels are very dim.

According to a research done by Punjab Agricultural University in 2007, Punjab has already lost 5.1 mn tonnes of nitrogen, 2.5mn tonnes of phosphorous and 4.7mn tonnes of potassium, each one of these being very crucial for the crops to grow and provide nutritional value.

Is this growth SUSTAINABLE ????

“We can say that Punjab is dying now. There is no doubt. Punjab is the food basket of India. Now we can say it is the disease basket.”

Effects of Pesticides ,Fertilizers and Insecticides This boom in production has also seen India rise to

become the world’s second largest producer and exporter of cotton, two-thirds of which is grown in the Punjab region.

It is suspected however that fifty years of increased productivity has been fuelled by the excessive use of fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides.

Food grain production, which stood at a mere 50 million tons in 1948–49, had increased almost fourfold to 198 million tons by the end of 1996–97 from an estimated 169 million hectares of permanently cropped land. 

The Silent Fields – Pesticide Poisoning in Punjab

Pesticides have degraded the environment to worst case possible .

Due to green revolution we have used lots of fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides and that’s why our soil, water and air has been totally polluted

Health Hazards due to pesticides

The worst problem with the pesticides is that it has contaminated drinking water very severely.

It may not be wrong to say that “PUNJAB IS BECOMING HOTSPOT FOR CANCER IN INDIA”.

Most of the wildlife once found in the region such as sparrows, owls and even eagles have long since vanished.

Pesticide exposure can cause a range of neurological health effects such as memory loss, loss of coordination, reduced speed of response to stimuli, reduced visual ability, altered or uncontrollable mood and general behavior, and reduced motor skills.

Effects of arsenic and heavy metal poisoning.

Water Contamination

Fertilizers and pesticides via water runoff , flow directly into storm drains and bodies of water causing contaminated water resources.

Algae glooms are a result of the excess nitrogen and phosphorus from runoff that goes into lakes and ponds.

Algae blooms also decrease the amount of oxygen in the water killing fishes.

Soil Contamination Soil contamination or soil pollution is caused by

the presence of xenobiotic (human-made) chemicals or other alteration in the natural soil environment.

It is typically caused by industrial activity, agricultural chemicals.

The most common chemicals involved polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (such as naphthalene and benzo(a)pyrene),  pesticides, lead, and other heavy metals.

Pesticides decrease biodiversity in the soil because they do not just kill the intended pest; they often kill many of the other small organisms present.

The excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides have hugely contributed towards degradation of the quality of soil.

A Case Study about Green Revolution in Faridkot(Punjab) A research tells us that “Fifty five people have died

of cancer in the past eleven years. Many children have been born disabled and died.”

“It started from 1995, due to the cotton belt. The American bollworm was the problem. In three months they were spraying every three days. The recommended amount is three to four times in three months. They were using these without hand gloves or masks. Health problems started from 1997-98. People started to get many types of cancer.”

For nearly 10 years this excessive pesticide used and then ‘Bt Cotton’ was introduced. A genetically modified strain, it naturally produces chemicals which harm and kill attacking pests.

 According to the ongoing research “Bt Cotton was good but the fertility of the land was gone. From 2004-2007 we used less [pesticides] but the productivity went down so use went up again to seven to eight times per three months. That’s been the same ever since.”

For several decades villagers prefered Productivity before health. With little to no advice from local government about safe usage practices, overuse has been unabated and the potential health implications ignored.

Due to this the frequency of cancer cases in the village increased tremendously and the rate of increase of ‘cancer villages’ are scaring people within the region.

 The accumulation of toxins in local ecosystems has rendered this village silent. That silence is mirrored in the villagers of Punjab whose voices are seldom heard in this remote corner of the country.

Impacts of Green Revolution Positive impacts on poverty reduction and lower

food prices were driven in large part by green revolution.

 The rapid increase in agricultural output resulting from the Green Revolution came from an impressive increase in yields per hectare.

Crop genetic improvement focused mostly on producing high-yielding varieties (HYVs), but the decrease in time to maturity was also an important improvement for many crops, allowing for an increase in cropping intensity.

Due excessive use of pesticides , fertilizers and insecticides quality of soil has been badly detoriated.

Due to agricultural runoff , soil erosion and dumping of wastes into rivers has increased the concentration of heavy metals like arsenic into water and thus making it unfit for consumption and daily usage.

Conclusion The example of Green Revolution in Punjab shows

that this speedy transformation from subsistence to commercialized agriculture has had enormous cultural, social, economic and ecological effects.

The time is now ripe for the second green revolution . India has tremendous export potential in agriculture in present era of globalization.

But ,the second green revolution should focus on :- Organic Farming Less use of such pesticides and fertilizers that

have fatal effects on human health , quality of soil and water quality.

Improving rural roads , irrigation facilities and rural electrification.