The Green Revolution in India was initiated in the 1960s by introducing high-yielding varieties of rice and wheat to increase food production to reduce hunger and poverty. After the Green Revolution, government initiatives led to a doubling of wheat and rice production, but a decline in the production of other food crops such as native rice varieties and millet. This led to the loss of different native crops from cultivation and also caused extinction. This review deals with the production of indigenous crops, its impact on society, the environment, nutritional intake, and per capita availability of foods, and the methods that can be implemented to bring indigenous crops back into cultivation.

Introduction

With 20 agro-climatic zones and 157.35 million hectares of land under cultivation, India holds the second largest agricultural land in the world [1]. Thus, agriculture plays an important role with 58% of rural households, even though India is no longer an agrarian economy. A report by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare has estimated that foodgrain production in India will be 279.51 million tonnes during the 2017-2018 crop year. Although India is self-sufficient in food production, its food production between 1947 and 1960 was so poor that there were risks of a famine. Therefore, the Green Revolution was initiated in the 1960s to increase food production in the country, reduce extreme poverty and malnutrition, and feed millions of people. Despite these measures, India has a quarter of the world’s hungry population, with 195.9 million malnourished people not having enough food to meet their daily nutritional needs; 58.4% of children below five years of age suffer from anemia, while 53% of women and 22.7% of men in the 15-49 age group suffer from anemia; 23% of women and 20% of men are thin, and 21% of women and 19% of men are obese [2:3].

The major crops grown in the era before the Green Revolution were rice, millet, sorghum, wheat, maize and barley, and the production of rice and millet exceeded the combined production of wheat, barley and maize. all together. But millet production has declined, and in a few decades after the Green Revolution, the crop that was consumed by every household became a fodder crop. Meanwhile, many of the traditional rice varieties consumed prior to the Green Revolution have become non-existent, and the availability of local rice varieties has dropped to 7000 and not all of these varieties are under cultivation. Thus, India has lost over 1 lakh varieties of indigenous rice after the 1970s, which took several thousand years to develop. This loss of species is mainly due to the focus on production of subsidized high yielding hybrid crops and the emphasis on monoculture by the government.

The measures initiated by the government increased the production of rice, wheat, pulses and other crops leading to self-sufficiency of food grains in the country. But it also destroyed the diverse gene pool available. The productivity of crops was increased by the use of fertilizers, pesticides and ground water resources. However, the land became barren due to the mismanagement and overuse of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and lack of crop rotation, and groundwater loss became a common occurrence in agricultural areas. These effects made the farmers even more unhappy due to the increasing expenditure on the cultivation of crops to overcome these shortcomings.

Green Revolution

The term “Green Revolution” was coined by William S. Goud of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1968 to refer to the introduction of new technology and policies implemented in developing countries with assistance from industrialized nations between the 1940s and 1960s. To increase the production and yield of food crops. Several high yielding varieties (HYVs) were introduced as part of the Green Revolution to increase agricultural productivity. These genetically improved varieties of wheat and rice were developed by the International Center for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT), Mexico and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines respectively.

HYVs had 20% more grain than their previous varieties and were more responsive to nitrogen fertilizers. Incorporation of multiple traits and specific genes for short stature in HYVs resulted in doubling of yield potential. Incorporation of the genes responsible for photosensitivity in rice and wheat is possible throughout the year; It was cultivated, regardless of the length of the day in the field. In addition, the short cropping period increased the cropping intensity to 2–3 crops per year. For example, newly introduced IR-8 takes 130  days to mature, and later developed varieties such as IR-72 take 100  days to mature while traditional rice varieties take 150  days to mature. It takes 180 days.

The period between 1960 and 1985 saw a doubling of yield per hectare, total productivity and total food production in developing countries. Accordingly, the global production of cereals increased by 174% between 1950 and 1990 while the global population increased by 110%. The increased production of grain enabled nations to feed their growing populations and averted the Malthusian scenario predicted in the 1960s.

Impacts of Green Revolution in India

The Green Revolution has led to an unusual increase in agricultural production. There was a huge increase in the production of food grains in India, out of which the biggest production of the revolution was of wheat. In the initial phase of this scheme, Indian farmers increased the production to 55 million tonnes. which was surprising for that time.

This revolution was the first foundation of success for us Indians in agricultural production. Not only this, but the yield per acre was also increased. The Green Revolution saw a huge boom in wheat in its initial phase, increasing the yield per hectare from 850 kg/ha to an incredible 2281 kg/ha.

After this revolution, India started moving towards export in some quantity instead of import in the matter of food grains, that is, India started moving towards self-reliance. Along with this, to meet the demand of the growing population, the stock of food grains was also kept in sufficient quantity so that in future if such a situation arises, food grains could be provided to the poor and minorities.

At the beginning of the Green Revolution, the public feared that commercial farming would increase unemployment and render a large number of the labor force unemployed. But after achieving success, the result was completely different. At the same time, it was natural for rural employment to increase. Many employment opportunities were created among the new villagers such as tertiary industries like transport, irrigation, food processing, marketing etc. created employment for the workforce.

The Green Revolution in India majorly benefited all the farmers of the country. At the same time, during the Green Revolution, the farmers also became rich in huge quantities, their income saw a continuous increase, due to which the farmer understood one thing, the farmers of India can face any such problems together. Most of the farmers shifted from subsistence farming to commercial farming.

Increase in Production and Productivity

The High-Yielding Varieties Program was limited to only five crops – Wheat, Rice, Jowar, Bajra and Maize. Hence, non-foodgrains were kept out of the purview of the new strategy. Wheat has been the mainstay of the Green Revolution for years. Thanks to new seeds, millions of tons of additional grain are being harvested every year.

The Green Revolution resulted in a record grain production of 131 million tonnes in 1978/79. This established India as one of the largest agricultural producers in the world. Between 1947 (when India gained political independence) and 1979, the yield per unit of farmland improved by more than 30%. The crop area under high yielding varieties of wheat and rice increased significantly during the Green Revolution.

The Green Revolution created a lot of jobs not only for agricultural workers but also for industrial workers by building factories and related facilities like hydroelectric power stations.

Declining Agriculture Growth Rate in Reform Period

After recording impressive performance during the 1980s, the period of economic recovery (starting in 1991) saw a decline in agricultural growth. As is evident, the growth rate of foodgrain production fell from 2.9 per cent per annum in the 1980s to 2.0 per cent per annum in the 1990s and to 2.1 per cent per annum in the first decade of the present century. Therefore, the period after 1991 has emerged as a kind of watershed at a time when development in Indian agriculture, a resurgence from the mid-1960s, was arrested.

Reasons for the decline in agricultural growth

The main reasons for the decline in agricultural growth in the post-reform period are:

• Significant decline in public and overall investment in agriculture
• shrinking farm size
• Failure to develop new technologies
• insufficient irrigation cover
• inadequate use of technology
• unbalanced use of inputs
• Decline in plan outlay
• Weaknesses in the Credit Delivery System
• Green Revolution and Regional Expansion of Regional Inequalities

HYVP was started in 1966-67 in a small area of 1.89 million hectare and in 1998-99 also it covered only 78.4 million hectare which is about 40 percent of the gross cropped area. Naturally, the center of profit of the new technology remained concentrated in this area. Furthermore, since the Green Revolution remained confined to wheat for many years, it benefited most of the wheat growing regions.

Mutual Inequalities

There seems to be a general consensus that in the early stages of the Green Revolution, large farmers benefited more from new technology than small and marginal farmers. This was not unexpected as new technology required substantial investments that were generally beyond the means of most small and marginal farmers in the country. Larger farmers continue to earn a lower cost per acre and a more complete return in income by reinvesting in non-farm and agricultural assets, including purchasing land from smaller farmers who could not transition to new technology.

The question of labor absorption

Although there is disagreement among economists about the mutual inequalities and the effects of the new agricultural strategy on the real wages of agricultural laborers, there is a general consensus that the adoption of the new technology has reduced labor absorption in agriculture.
Change in Approach: A healthy contribution of the Green Revolution is the change in attitude of farmers in the areas where the new agricultural strategy was practiced. The increase in productivity in these areas has changed the status of agriculture from a low level of subsistence activity to a money-making activity. The Indian farmer has shown his willingness to accept technological change in pursuit of profit and thus put an end to the age-old criticism against him that he is backward, traditional and unresponsive to price and productivity promotion.