Can we initiate a Global Green Revolution?
G. Ravishankar
Revolutionary changess are taking place to increase industrial production. Technological developments take every day to make the industries prosper. What about agriculture? There’s a need for a green revolution. Isn’t? Farmers need to be updated with the latest agricultural technique to increase prodcution,.
THE GREEN
revolution is a process of technological development of agricultural techniquesand has since spread throughout the world. The goal of the Green revolution was to increase the efficiency of agricultural processes so that the productivity of the crops was increased and could help developing countries to face their growing populations needs.
The Green revolution has since started to face strong criticisms (discussed below), and is being replaced in some cases by integrated farming or organic farming techniques.
Agricultural Techniques
The techniques refined and developed by the Green revolution are, roughly:
Extensive use of chemical fertilizers - Every plant basically relies on several basic
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compounds in order to grow. Primary is nitrogen need. Only in the nitrate form can plants absorb the nitrogen they require. Certain microorganisms found in the soil are able to convert atmospheric nitrogen into the nitrate form plants can use. Also, some biological can take place by microorganisms living in small nodules on the roots of certain plants, such as legumes.
Phosphates are also important, as well as numerous trace elements. Soil pH (acidity or alkalinity) must also be adjusted to the optimal conditions for the crop in question. Previously proper soil conditions had relied only on techniques such as crop
rotation, mixing of crops, or organic fertilizers like horse manure. The major development of the Green revolution in this field was the use of chemical fertilizers to adjust the soil pH balance and achieve the right levels of all the important chemical compounds needed for the plant to grow.
Irrigation - Although it has been in use in agriculture for thousands of years, the Green revolution further developed irrigation methods to allow for more efficient irrigation.
Use of heavy machinery - Mechanized harvesters and other machinery was not new to agriculture - the McCormick reaper was developed in the nineteenth century - but the Green revolution allowed a drastic reduction in the input of human labor to agriculture by extending the use of machinery to automate every possible agricultural process.