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Father of the “Green Revolution”

Sep 22, 2009 Editorial

The passing of the father of the “Green Revolution”, Norman Borlaug at the ripe old age of 96, two Saturdays ago (Sept. 12) has apparently not aroused much interest in our country. It could be that the import (or even the knowledge) of the “Green Revolution”, has been lost to our citizenry. If this is so, it is very regrettable for a country in which agriculture is its largest employer and is strategically positioned to facilitate our rise out of poverty.
Very simply, the “Green Revolution” was the tag given to a program initiated in the 1940’s in Mexico, via which new varieties of wheat were produced through innovative breeding programs and combined with new farming techniques to triple yields. At that time, with the improvement in health services in the underdeveloped world, a Malthusian scenario was developing across the world from the dramatic population increase versus the stagnant production of staple grains.
Introduced into India and Pakistan in 1965, within five years the new varieties averted famines that could have taken the lives of millions. These countries became self-sufficient in food and allowed the latter the freedom to pursue its wider developmental goals that are now bearing fruit. Dr Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1970 for his pioneering work in a field that had very little glamour.
The research had been sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, which soon duplicated its findings in rice at its research centre in the Philippines.
China and other countries, including Guyana, adopted these new breeds and soon they were achieving yields that were once only achieved by the developed countries. Famines were now a phenomenon of the past.
At this time, the world is producing more than enough food to feed its population: the problem of hunger in some countries – especially in Sub-Saharan Africa – is actually one of distribution. These countries are not generating enough income to purchase enough food or to acquire the inputs and infrastructure necessary to support their “Green Revolution”.
Our experience in Guyana with the new breeds of rice can be used to illustrate the latter point, and also, the downside of the “Green Revolution”. While on one hand the varieties that fuelled the “Green Revolution” all had massively increased yields even though they were uniformly shorter (dwarf and semi-dwarf varieties) they just as uniformly demanded massive infusions of fertilisers and pesticides.
Combined with the costs of the newer farming techniques using tractors, harvesters, water pumps and irrigation, production costs also shot skywards.
In times of downward market-price fluctuations – such as we are experiencing now – in countries bereft of price support mechanisms (explicit or implicit) farmers are invariably left holding the bag. Last year in India, thousands of farmers committed suicide because they could not bear the shame of defaulting on loans made necessary to sustain the demands of the “Green Revolution”.
One would hope that this cultural trait has not been retained by farmers in Guyana. The government, to its credit, has consistently worked with the banking community to ameliorate the effects of market failure.
The above (and other) criticisms of the “Green Revolution” such as dissipation of water tables, increased toxicity and pollution due to chemical run-off and leaching into ground-water etc. have made some wary of extending its spread – especially into Africa.
But the world’s population – and again especially Africa – marches inexorably upwards: by 2050 the world’s population is expected to move to 9.8 billion from the present 5.8 billion. We have another Malthusian crisis staring at us in the face.
And the environmentalists have also convinced us that we cannot clear our forests willy-nilly to satisfy our demand for food or shelter. So what are we to do? Well, our government seems to have hit upon a pretty good “middle way” – the Low Carbon Development Strategy. Develop our savannahs (our intermediate and interior ones) along the way the Brazilians have done with theirs (the Cerrado) using the techniques of the “Green Revolution” to produce food to feed a hungry world. You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs: the trick is to break the least and still feed your family.

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