Green Revolution

Over the past decade, the Rwandan government has pursued an ambitious agricultural modernization policy aimed at implementing a Green Revolution on the Rwandan hills. The Crop Intensification Program (CIP) is one of the main components of this process. Rwandan farmers are required to enter the stage of agricultural modernity by changing their ways of cultivating their land: they have to focus on particular market-oriented crop types in a monocropping system, they are encouraged to increase their use of fertilizers, and they are confronted with an ambitious land use consolidation program. However, the implementation of the CIP fails to draw lessons from previous Green Revolution experiences in terms of its effects on social differentiation, on ecological sustainability, and on knowledge exchange and creation. Through qualitative research at three levels (macro, meso and micro), this article points to the contradictions inherent in the implementation of the program and shows how the current CIP architecture is trapped in a vision of top-down modernity that turns a blind eye to smallholder farmers' livelihood challenges.

The purpose of this review is to share with developing countries
how a dedicated agricultural university helped enhance food production
and thwart Malthusian scenario. The Indian adequacy
on the food-front has largely been attributed to the development of
improved seeds of different crops, in particular wheat and rice, efficient
system of agro-technology generation and its transfer to farmers,
and useful coordination between state development departments
and suitable government policies. We have discussed the revolutionary
role of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) in transforming a
food-deficient India into a food self-sufficient nation. This dramatic
transformation is dubbed the Green Revolution. Fueled by scientific
research, PAU has, since its inception in 1962, released more than
580 improved varieties/hybrids of field crops, vegetables, fruits,
fodder, and ornamentals. Now, almost the entire cropped area of
the Punjab state is under improved varieties. This is because PAU
has one of the best seed-production and delivery programs among
agricultural universities in India. Its total seed production capacity
during the last five years was >30,000 tons. Millions of disease-free
nursery plants of fruits and ornamentals are supplied to farmers
annually. The seed-production technology, together with an improved
seed-distribution system, has given an impetus to agriculture in recent
years. New breeding methods and modern technologies, such as biotechnology,
electron microscopy, and nanotechnology, should provide
even better seeds in the future. The scanning electron microscopy
facilities at PAU have helped distinguish between seed surfaces of
drought-resistant and drought-susceptible genotypes of Indian
mustard, and, revealed that seed coat microstructure could be
used as a selection criterion for stress tolerance. Farmer training in the production of hybrid seed and nursery help boost seed production and farmers’ income. The seed-plot technique in potato and rhizobium inoculation of pulse seeds have had a strong impact on production. The supply of high-quality mushroom spawn and quality Kinnow (citrus) plantlets to farmers has boosted mushroom and citrus production, and thereby the farmers’ incomes. Ever-increasing population requires universities, such as PAU, to continue to play pivotal roles in enhancing food production. Seed production programs will need to be put on a new trajectory to double food production by 2050 and agricultural universities would need to be strengthened to meet this critical goal.

"Studi-studi Survei Agro Ekonomi (SAE) pada dekade 1970an-1980-an berada dalam konteks ketika strategi pembangunan Indonesia "berbalik arah": dari kebijakan Reforma Agraria yang menekankan pada perubahan struktural, menjadi kebijakan Revolusi Hijau yang menekankan pada perubahan teknologi. Bagaimanakah dampak dari strategi pembangunan ini pada hubungan kerja, penguasaan tanah, dan pembentukan kelas di pedesaan digambarkan secara rinci dalam buku ini.
Pengantar yang ditulis oleh Prof. Ben White menjelaskan secara jernih di mana posisi studi-studi SAE tersebut, baik dari segi teoritis dalam konteks perdebatan akademis mengenai tanah, tenaga kerja dan pembentukan kelas; maupun dari segi kebijakan dalam konteks perdebatan mengenai relevansi land reform dan posisi ilmuwan sosial Indonesia dalam pembangunan pedesaan dan kesejahteraan masyarakat. Laporan studi-studi SAE tersebut, oleh karena itu, masih tetap relevan sampai sekarang karena berbagai masalah yang diungkapkannya merupakan masalah kronis dan persisten yang sampai kini pun masih dihadapi oleh bangsa ini."

"Studi-studi Survei Agro Ekonomi (SAE) pada dekade 1970an-1980-an berada dalam konteks ketika strategi pembangunan Indonesia "berbalik arah": dari kebijakan Reforma Agraria yang menekankan pada perubahan struktural, menjadi kebijakan Revolusi Hijau yang menekankan pada perubahan teknologi. Bagaimanakah dampak dari strategi pembangunan ini pada hubungan kerja, penguasaan tanah, dan pembentukan kelas di pedesaan digambarkan secara rinci dalam buku ini.
Pengantar yang ditulis oleh Prof. Ben White menjelaskan secara jernih di mana posisi studi-studi SAE tersebut, baik dari segi teoritis dalam konteks perdebatan akademis mengenai tanah, tenaga kerja dan pembentukan kelas; maupun dari segi kebijakan dalam konteks perdebatan mengenai relevansi land reform dan posisi ilmuwan sosial Indonesia dalam pembangunan pedesaan dan kesejahteraan masyarakat. Laporan studi-studi SAE tersebut, oleh karena itu, masih tetap relevan sampai sekarang karena berbagai masalah yang diungkapkannya merupakan masalah kronis dan persisten yang sampai kini pun masih dihadapi oleh bangsa ini."

This webinar (in Bangla) is on the History, Sociology and Politics of land reforms in West Bengal and its successes and failure organized by SOFIA, Bankura.

Panelists: Pranab De, Biswanath Chakraborty, Goutam Majhi and Debaprasad Bandyopadhyay