GREEN REVOLUTION: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
GREEN REVOLUTION- PAST,
PRESENT AND FUTURE
By- Antarjit Das
Class- VIII
School- Don Bosco H.S
School, Kokrajhar
ABSTRACT:
The research study below
recalls and explains us about an ongoing and serious subject, Green Revolution,
why it is necessary, what are the major steps to be taken to maintain the green
revolution, history of it and many other comparative research and reference
results. Green Revolution has become an educational and popular phrase among
the growing minds of the youth.
INTRODUCTION:
One of the most
important environmental terms is ‘Green Revolution’. It can be simply defined
as an increase in the production of the crops in the countries because of the
use of fertilizers, pesticide, weedicides and high yielding crop versions (1).
It is very necessary in cease of developing countries like India and also
created a buzz among the media in the form of articles, protests, newspaper
publishing and recitals too. The green Revolution in India was the era when
traditional agriculture was modernized due to adoption of various modern
methods and technologically advanced implementations which gradually resulted
in high yield and better quality of crops. Some of these modern methods include
addition of fertilizers, practices like fallow, mixed farming and crop rotation
along with modern irrigation methods like the drip system, sprinkler system and
addition of motor pumps.
Fig.1(Scene of an Agricultural Field)
Source- Google Images
WHY GREEN REVOLUTION:
The World Population
level has been rapidly increasing day by day. Since we all need food to
survive, we will gradually be required more food sources. Agriculture is one of
the most important food sources on Earth. It gives us most of our important
daily meals. If we don’t practice the Green Revolution, we will probably get
lesser amount of yielded crops, which would not be so if we add a proper amount
of fertilizers, use modern methods and implements like fallow and crop rotation
which would positively impact the yield. In simpler words, if the Green
Revolution is not implemented for agriculture, then millions of livestock would
have lesser amount of food or no food at all, be hungry and in severe
conditions, would starve to death.
HISTORY OF GREEN
REVOLUTION:
The idea of the Green
Revolution dates back to the 1940 and is credited to an American agronomist, Norman
Borlaug who is currently the known ‘Father of Green Revolution’ (2). He has
also been awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize and the Padma Vibhushan for his
great initiatives on increase of agricultural production. He has also been
credited for saving a billion people around the world from starvation.
M.S. Swaminathan is
known as the ‘Father of Green Revolution in India’ because he played a major
role in developing and industrializing high yielding varieties of crops like
wheat and other legumes in India.
Fig.2(M.S. Swaminathan)
Source- Google Images
BENEFITS OF THE GREEN
REVOLUTION:
As the definition of the
term ‘Green Revolution’ suggests, the most effective and important benefit will
be the high amount of yield which will then be very effective for the rising
world population as the quantity of edible resources will increase.
NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES OF
THE GREEN REVOLUTION:
The Green Revolution in
developing countries though has a number of benefits and advantages, but it
also carries with it, a number of disadvantages too…
·
Excessive use of Chemical Fertilizers will lead to damage
to the fertility and quality of the soil. If the soil loses its fertility
completely, then even the usage of manure and fertilizers will never be able to
revive its fertility and quality and the soil will be ‘dead’.
·
Most of the modern agricultural methods are computer-
operated or simply automatic and farmers apply minimum of their energy on it.
This is making the farmers forget about their early days, how hard they used to
work to obtain every grain of the crop, and hence, they are slowly turning to
be lazy and inactive because they think that the computerized as well as
automatic machines can do their complete work in no time like a piece of cake.
·
Some of the heavy agricultural machines often cause a lot
of air pollution and noise pollution.
IMPLEMENTS AND PRACTICES
OF THE GREEN REVOLUTION:
A large number of modern
agricultural implementations and machinery have replaced the traditional
methods in every procedures of the crop production- from preparation of soil to
harvesting and then winnowing. Many of the modern age agriculturists have
acquired many useful skills and practices which are helping to increase crop
yield and also protect from weeds. Some of these Implementations and practices
related to crop production are as follows…
·
Cultivators: A cultivator is a farm implement used for
tiling the soil (3). Its mainframe structure constitutes of several disks or
teeth which penetrate and pierce the top soil as it gets dragged by a tractor
or other vehicle in a straight line. Cultivators are cheap and effective for
tiling many rows of soil in one time.
Fig.3.(A Stock Image of a Cultivator)
Source- Google Images
·
Seed Drills: A seed drill is a mechanical implement that is
used to sows seeds at an equal distance and proper depth from one another. It s
base structure constitutes of a hopper where the seeds are temporarily stored
until sown. The seeds then reach several ‘teeth’ close to the soil through
pipes which connect the hopper to the teeth. The seeds are then spread through
small openings in the teeth at a proper distance and depth from other seeds. In
case of cheap and mechanical seed drills, small tractors may be used may be
used. However, in case of gigantic and computerized ones, big tractors or
trucks can be implemented.
·
Combine Harvesters: Combine Harvesters are one of the most
used agricultural machinery. It is a versatile machine which harvests,
threshes and winnows the crop all together in no time (4). It is mostly
computerized but it can also be human operated and automatic too. The sharp
blades or ‘Reapers’ on the front of the machine cut off the grown crop from the
stock and stores them in a separate section of its body. Winnowing and
threshing is together done inside the mainframe and the chaff, hollow grains
and other useless stuff is thrown away through from the back of the machine.
Fig.4.(A Combine Harvester harvesting the crop)
Source- Google Images
·
Addition of chemical fertilizers: Plants need nutrients to
grow and they get most of it from the soil itself. If the soil has a depletion
of the plant nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, than the plants
would either take a long to mature or would not germinate at all. Adding
fertilizers replenishes most of the plant nutrients in the soil. An example of
a chemical fertilizer is the NPK, which replenishes the amount of phosphorus,
nitrogen and potassium in the soil. However, abuse of fertilizers can impact
the fertility and quality of the soil in a negative way too.
·
Crop Rotation: Crop Rotation is the process of growing
different varieties of crops alternately on a specific piece of land. It is a
widely used practice which helps us to avoid exhausting the fertility and
quality of the soil and to control weeds and pests from damaging the crops.
·
Bio fertilizers: Bio Fertilizers are too widely used among
the farmers and agriculturists because of its main specialty of fixing and
increasing the nitrogen rate of the soil. They are actually made from living
cells of harmless microorganisms. An example of bio fertilizer is the
Azotobacter Bio fertilizer.
Fig.5.(Azotobacter Bio Fertlilizer)
Source- Google Images
·
Drip Irrigation System: In the process of drip irrigation
system, the water falls drop by drop near the roots of the plants. Its basic
structure constitutes of one or many main pipelines which sub- channels
reaching the roots. The end of the sub- channels have one or many thin holes
through which water reaches the roots, drop by drop. The Drip Irrigation System
is more effective than the sprinkler system in terms of saving water and is
very useful in place where water is scarce.
·
The Sprinkler System: The Sprinkler System is a widely used
modern irrigation method which is mainly used to water cereals like rice,
wheat, etc. This system constitutes of many rotating nozzles fixed on top of
sub-channels or pipes which is connected to the larger pipeline that runs along
the cultivation area. Water gets sprinkled on the crops and plants through the
nozzles using a motor pump. The Sprinkler System is also used to water the
small plants along the footpath of the roads in some of the urban areas.
Fig.6.(Sprinkler System on a lawn)
Source- Google Images
GREEN REVOLUTION IN THE
FIELD OF GENETIC SCIENCE:
Green Revolution has
made itself space in the field of Genetic Science too. Since many decades
scientists, agriculturists and researchers have been giving their best to
enhance the yield, increase the quality of the crop through DNA modification
and create such new crop varieties which have the ability to protect themselves
from weeds, pests, etc, through DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) and RNA
(Ribonucleic Acid) modification or by enhancing their recent abilities or by
other means. As we move towards the future, we might find this technological
advancement to be true and commercial too.
CONCLUSION:
The Green Revolution is
one such term which can ‘revolutionize’ human and agricultural life in some
way. The Green Revolution started in the 1940s but it will grow to move on
forever. Researches will discuss more about it and many effective and useful
technologies are going to start up from the young mind and the Earth will turn
to be a better place to live in.
REFERENCES:
(2)
Reference from Google Search.
(3)
Reference from Google Dictionary.
(4)
Reference from
Google Search.
#greenrevolution
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