An attempt to increase

resources
Already know – Mauritius
This PowerPoint – The Green Revolution
THE GREEN REVOLUTION
 A technological solution to population increase
and pressure on resources
 Not “green” as in “environmentally green”

 Supports Esther Boserup (or did she base her

ideas on it)
 Only 10% of the Earth’s surface is suitable for
regular farming – increase yield from land –
intensification
 A technological revolution in agricultural
practices
 Most commonly associated with LEDCs in
South Asia (e.g. India, Thailand)
THE GREEN REVOLUTION -
Biochemical
Hybrid seed selection, new high yield varieties
genetic engineering
 IR-8 one strain of rice increased yields six fold

 Shorter growing seasons (dual crops)

 Wider range of suitable climates

Fertilizers – needed for new crops, create

employment

Herbicides and Pesticides

THE GREEN REVOLUTION - Mechanical
 Irrigation systems bring more marginal land
under cultivation
 Tractors, harvesters, seed planters, rotary
cultivators replacing man power
(mechanisation)
 Transport to move machines around to chase
harvests, more larger yields to more distance
markets
THE GREEN REVOLUTION
- Social
 Land reforms – agglomeration of small
subsistence farms

 Credit facilities – access cash for investment in

“front end” resources
THE GREEN REVOLUTION - Advantages
 Wheat and in particular rice yields doubled
(India produced a food surplus in late 80’s
despite drought)
 Improved some farmers’ standard of living

 Industrialisation created jobs in fertilizer

factories, transport etc
THE GREEN REVOLUTION -
disadvantages
 High yield varieties are costly, lack taste
 Irrigation may lead to salination

 Cultivation of unsuitable land – soil erosion

 Eutrophication

 Poorest farmers did not benefit selling up to

richer farmers
 Unemployment – rural to urban migration

 Cash cropping for a global market may not

increase food supply locally