The Not So Green Revolution

The Green Revolution in India doesn’t actually mean that India is trying to be a greener country by recycling, etc. The Green Revolution actually is an introduction of high yielding seeds for agriculture and an increased use of fertilizers and pesticides. This revolution was meant to increase India’s agriculture production to meet its food grain needs not only for it self, but to be able to export grains.

Some of the good things that have come out of the Green Revolution are really vital to India’s future. The Green Revolution increased the yield of a crop, and better disease resistance. It also improved the farmer’s economic gain. The more yields they received the more they could make off the land. This in turn benefited people who the farmer bought from and sold too. The farmer could buy more goods for his own family, and the person who bought his crop to sell could sell more and make more of a profit. The Green Revolution is helping the economy of India grow, and the amount of people in poverty decrease. More of a crop means lower prices at market, which in turn means people buy more and are healthier. Below is an image of a graph showing population growth in the past 500 years. Take note of the Orange Line of India compared to the grey line at the bottom of the United States
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But like most things, the grass is never actually greener on the other side, the Green Revolution has a large downside. Mainly due to the excessive use of fertilizers and chemicals which has degraded the land. Also the use of rotating crops has degraded the land. Many pests that inhabit farms have become resistant to the pesticides and chemicals. Two of the most important issues that have come out of the green revolution are the effects on Human health. Overuse of chemicals on plants has caused humans to get sick, when they ingest the food. Also overuse of chemicals has leached into ground water and river systems contributing to a large number of people becoming sick or dying from ingesting the chemicals. Also there have been over 900,000 Indians die every year due to contaminated water.

Make sure to take a look at this video below for an interesting take on the Green Revolution.

Also take a look at this very interesting image that shows the usage of fertilizers in the world.