Green Revolution

1
Green Revolution

• Craig Jeffrey
• Monday 30th October 2006

2
Aims of this lecture

• 1. To introduce US policies of food aid and the
  shift towards promoting technological change in
  the global south
• 2. To consider why a Green Revolution occurred
  in India
• AND
• 3. To get feedback about the course

3
Structure of Lecture

• 1. US Food Policy I Food aid
• 2. US Food Policy II Green Revolution
• 3. Green Revolution in India

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US Food Aid

• After WW2 the US launched a huge programme of
  food aid to poorer countries
• Stated aim was to improve relations with other
  countries
• Unstated goal of the US was to find outlets for
  the agricultural surplus produced by US farmers
  and enhance US geopolitical interests

5
Public Law 480

• Food aid arrangements formalised in a programme
  known as PL480
• Offered commercial sales on concessionary terms.
• Famine relief to poorer countries
• Food bartered for strategic raw materials

6
Food dependency?

• Often cheaper for governments in the global south
  to import food rather than develop their own
  infrastructure
• Food aid led to changes in diets wheat products
  rather than indigenous crops. This led to a
  decline in demand for traditional crops
• Links to Franks dependency theory

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Green Revolution I

• Second major arm of US food policy was the
  promotion of new agricultural technologies
  developed in the US see Potter et. al. 455-457
• Green Revolution technologies developed by
  Norman Borlaug at Stanford University in 1950s
  International Rice Research Institute in the
  Philippines in the 1960s
• Norman Borlaug won Nobel Peace Prize

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Green Revolution II

• Scientists focused upon producing High Yielding
  Varieties (HYVs) of seeds that allowed
  intensified cropping patterns.
• These seeds - mainly of wheat, maize and rice -
  often required a heavy input of fertiliser and
  assured supplies of irrigation.
• Green Revolution to stop red revolution

9
Borlaugs Nobel Lecture

• Never before in the history of agriculture has a
  transplantation of high-yielding varieties
  coupled with an entirely new technology and
  strategy been achieved on such a massive scale,
  in so short a period of time, and with such great
  success.

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India 1947-1964

• 1947-1964 Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru
  concentrated on developing industry Lewis model
• 1964 Nehru died
• 1965 US pressure on India to buy seed and
  chemical fertilisers from large US firms

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Green Revolution in India

• 1965 drive to increase production through
  introducing HYVs of wheat and rice and
  encouraging use of chemical inputs
• This production drive linked to a move to
  purchase large amounts of food through Food
  Corporation of India

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How was the Green Revolution in India interpreted?

• Initial euphoria in fertile areas of India and
  Pakistan astonishing growth in rice and wheat
  production from late 1960s
• But darker picture began to emerge what of
  poorer areas of South Asia and smaller farmers?
• Sharma idea of Green Revolution like a
  watermelon, Green on the outside and red in the
  middle

13
Conclusions

• US Food policy in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s
  organised around food aid and, increasingly, the
  promotion of new agricultural technologies in the
  global south
• India moved from relying on food aid to trying to
  become self reliant in agriculture through
  engaging in a Green Revolution
• Initial euphoria miracle seeds