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India deposits rice, wheat seeds in Svalbard Vault

: The term “green revolution” was coined by Dr William Gaud of USA in 1968. This year therefore, marks the 40th anniversary of the onset of green revolution in our farms. Green revolution is another term for improving crop production through enhanced productivity by enabling the plant to utilise sunlight, irrigation water, and nutrients more effectively.

In other words, green revolution involves a vertical improvement in productivity and not a horizontal expansion in area. Since arable land and irrigation water are shrinking resources for agriculture, we have no option except to produce more from less land and less water. Also, smaller the farm, the greater is the need for marketable surplus in order to have some cash income.

During the last decade, there has been reference to the fatigue of the green revolution because of stagnation in productivity and production. Steps taken in recent years are helping to overcome this fatigue and it is estimated that the growth rate in agriculture during 2008 may be 4.5%. Lack of progress in productivity improvement is however persisting. The reasons are two fold — environmental and economic.

When farm ecology and economics go wrong, nothing else will go right. This then is the greatest challenge before us during 2009. During the coming year, we should achieve a paradigm shift from green to an evergreen revolution.

Evergreen revolution involves enhancement of productivity in perpetuity without associated ecological harm. We must reduce the ecological debt we are now incurring particularly in the heartland of the green revolution, namely, Punjab, Haryana and Western UP. In this fertile crescent of India, bio-capacity, ie, nature’s ability to meet the growing demand, is decreasing. Compounding all these factors are likely to adverse changes in growing conditions associated with global warming.