India’s evergreen revolution in cereals

Abstract

The term ‘Green Revolution’ (GR) is used to highlight an unprecedented increase in wheat production in India during 1968–72. The critics of GR allege that there is technology fatigue, especially after 1980s. The present study was undertaken to analyse the trends in productivity of major cereals and compare yield gains during the GR era and post-GR era. The period of 68 years since 1950 was divided in four phases: pre-GR era (1950–66) referred to as phase I, GR era (1967–83) as phase II, post-GR era of 1984–2000 as phase III and post-GR era of 2001–17 as phase IV. The annual rate of gain in productivity (kg/ha/yr) in each phase was estimated by linear regression. The annual gain in wheat productivity in phase III (53.1 kg/ha) was 30% higher than that in the GR era (41.0 kg/ha). In rice, the productivity gains increased consistently: annual gain in phase III (32.3 kg/ha) and phase IV (41.6 kg/ha) was 68% to 117% respectively, higher than that in the GR era (19.2 kg/ha). The rate of gain in productivity of maize and pearl millet in phases III and IV was 188–530% higher in comparison to the GR phase. The progress can largely be attributed to development and adoption of improved cultivars with higher yield potential and crop management technologies. The analysis provided conclusive evidence of India experiencing evergreen revolution in major cereals.