157
8.2 Impacts of the Green Revolution on Developing
Countries
8.2.1 Brief History of the Green Revolution
The Green Revolution was named by William Gaud (1968), a former administrator
of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It was a process of increasing the yields of cereals, wheat, and rice by developing a high yield
variety (HYV) or modern variety (MV) with modern inputs such as modern irrigation systems, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides. It appeared in 1940s, and proceeded from the 1960s to the late 1980s or early 1990s. Developments of HYV of
wheat and rice marked the beginning of the Green Revolution. In the early 1940s,
the whole world stood in awe of reality of the threat of Malthus’s world. In 1798,
Thomas Robert Malthus published a famous book, An Essay on the Principle of
Population, and insisted in the book that human population increased in a geometric
or exponential manner, whereas the ability to produce food increased only in an
arithmetic manner. In other words, the population would outgrow the ability of the
land to produce food. Food shortages would have been real.
Agronomist Dr. Norman Earnest Borlaug, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1970 and often known as the “Father of the Green Revolution,” succeeded in
developing HYV wheat at an institution in Mexico in 1943 under a variety improvement operation by the Rockefeller foundation, which had taken the initiative to
counter potential food shortages. In the Mexican institute, the HYV wheat was
developed by crossing Norin 10 from Japan onto an indigenous variety of spring
wheat in Mexico. The developed HYV wheat variety was defused to Asian countries. To bring varieties from other areas, adaptation to differences in natural conditions was required. In the process of its diffusion among Asian countries, it was
crossed onto area varieties through collaboration with National Agricultural
Research Systems (NARS).
Agricultural research and development (R&D) systems, including NARS, were
established through the process. The institute in Mexico became the International
Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, CIMMYT (Centro Internacional de
Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo), which is an institution under CGIAR (Consultative
Group on International Agricultural Research). In the case of the other main cereal
rice, HYV rice was developed in an institute in the Philippines, which became an
institute under CGIAR, IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) supported by
the Ford Foundation after the Rockefeller Foundation. One of the representative
types of HYV rice was IR8, which was developed in 1966. It was produced by
crossing semi-dwarf rice varieties from Taiwan onto a rice variety from Indonesia in
order to respond to chemical fertilizer and increase productivity.
Figure 8.1 indicates yield trends by region and compares yield increase between
Asia and Africa. In the 1960s, yields of cereal were virtually the same in South Asia
and Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the difference has expanded since the 1980s,
which came after the Green Revolution. In addition, when comparing the relationship
8 Framing Food Security and Poverty Alleviation
8.2 Impacts of the Green Revolution on Developing
Countries
8.2.1 Brief History of the Green Revolution
The Green Revolution was named by William Gaud (1968), a former administrator
of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It was a process of increasing the yields of cereals, wheat, and rice by developing a high yield
variety (HYV) or modern variety (MV) with modern inputs such as modern irrigation systems, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides. It appeared in 1940s, and proceeded from the 1960s to the late 1980s or early 1990s. Developments of HYV of
wheat and rice marked the beginning of the Green Revolution. In the early 1940s,
the whole world stood in awe of reality of the threat of Malthus’s world. In 1798,
Thomas Robert Malthus published a famous book, An Essay on the Principle of
Population, and insisted in the book that human population increased in a geometric
or exponential manner, whereas the ability to produce food increased only in an
arithmetic manner. In other words, the population would outgrow the ability of the
land to produce food. Food shortages would have been real.
Agronomist Dr. Norman Earnest Borlaug, the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1970 and often known as the “Father of the Green Revolution,” succeeded in
developing HYV wheat at an institution in Mexico in 1943 under a variety improvement operation by the Rockefeller foundation, which had taken the initiative to
counter potential food shortages. In the Mexican institute, the HYV wheat was
developed by crossing Norin 10 from Japan onto an indigenous variety of spring
wheat in Mexico. The developed HYV wheat variety was defused to Asian countries. To bring varieties from other areas, adaptation to differences in natural conditions was required. In the process of its diffusion among Asian countries, it was
crossed onto area varieties through collaboration with National Agricultural
Research Systems (NARS).
Agricultural research and development (R&D) systems, including NARS, were
established through the process. The institute in Mexico became the International
Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, CIMMYT (Centro Internacional de
Mejoramiento de Maíz y Trigo), which is an institution under CGIAR (Consultative
Group on International Agricultural Research). In the case of the other main cereal
rice, HYV rice was developed in an institute in the Philippines, which became an
institute under CGIAR, IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) supported by
the Ford Foundation after the Rockefeller Foundation. One of the representative
types of HYV rice was IR8, which was developed in 1966. It was produced by
crossing semi-dwarf rice varieties from Taiwan onto a rice variety from Indonesia in
order to respond to chemical fertilizer and increase productivity.
Figure 8.1 indicates yield trends by region and compares yield increase between
Asia and Africa. In the 1960s, yields of cereal were virtually the same in South Asia
and Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the difference has expanded since the 1980s,
which came after the Green Revolution. In addition, when comparing the relationship
8 Framing Food Security and Poverty Alleviation