History of The Green Revolution in Asia

The Green Revolution in Asia World Issues May 27, 1996

The Problem: With the high and rapidly growing population of Asia, many people go hungry. How can the world support these people?; and, how can these people feed themselves? What cost will this have on the environment? What is being done to help these people.

The Solution: The Green Revolution is a solution that has been at work since the 1960's. It has been developing new and better ways at producing food.

Background to the Green Revolution: The Green Revolution Started in the 1960's by the government of the United States. The Green Revolution was started to make wheat more adaptable to different environments. The grain was genetically engineered to grow with a shorter stock (to stop damage from wind) and the ability to grow faster so colder climates could be sure that the crop was fully grown by the cold season. Warmer climates could take advantage of these faster growing varieties by having more than one or two harvests a season. The developing countries produced a lot of waste through their cultivation techniques. They used high amounts of labor that produced waste so the developed world had machinery that they sent to the underdeveloped to stop the waste.

The production of new wheat varieties has led to the green revolution spreading to Asia and the production of new rice varieties. Positives of the Green Revolution: Since the Green Revolution has started there have been nearly 5000 new crop strains developed. Seeds for crops such as wheat, rice, corn, and cotton have been upgraded four to six times. Farmers have saw a 50 to 130 percent rise in yield. Wheat production is about 50 times that during the 1950's.

The population of the world is rising rapidly and this may be the only way for the earth to feed ourselves. Problems With the Green Revolution: Problems that have occurred are that the people that need the machinery cannot afford to buy clothes let alone pay for huge machines that have to be shipped in from developed countries and the shipping must be paid for. Even if the farmers could afford the machinery, they would have to be taught how to use it properly. Finding fuel, and the money to buy the fuel, in the middle of Africa, for instance, is impossible.

The developed world produced the new wheat and rice varieties. To genetically engineer a new strain of food, a company or government must pay scientists (including agronomists, geneticists, biologists, chemists, nuclear scientists, space-flight scientists), fund experiments, laboratory space, and materials (to just name a few). The costs are very high so the developing world would need to pay a fair price for these new varieties. The money that the countries need to pay for the seeds and machinery is borrowed from other countries. This borrowing does not help the developing countries but puts them, in most cases, into a deeper financial crisis.

The environment also pays the price for the revolution. The new plant varieties use a lot of minerals from the ground and the soil that they grow in is being abused. The soil loses much of its minerals so a way had to be found to replace them. Fertilizers, natural and chemical, have to be used in high quantities to produce the special varieties. The chemicals seep down into the groundwater and pollute the water to the point that it is no longer potable. Many rivers and lakes such as the Huang He River (refer to map of China) and the Ganges River (refer to map of India) have seen the effects of this problem in the late 1960's when fish and waterfowl began dying unexpectedly.

Another problem with the Green Revolution was that the new varieties, or modern cultivars, had started to make the original varieties that farmers had used for hundreds of years disappear. The amount of different types of seeds started to rapidly disappear. The modern cultivars have a major flaw. The flaw is that the varieties are insect repelling. The rice's ability to fend off insects is a problem because the next generation of insects are able to fight this repellence and then new strains must be developed. If the new strains are not found then insecticides must be used which also seeps into the groundwater and poisons the potable water. New varieties must be constantly found in order to fight the pests. The battle is never-ending but it is quite possible that the insects may win the battle and become immune to all types of insecticide.

The Green Revolution in Asia: The countries that this report is going to look at is the growth of the Green Revolution in China, India, and a little from Viet Nam. Rice: Rice has been dated in Asia to 3000 B.C. while rice started being cultivated in the United States from about the 1640's when a ship that stopped while traveling to Madagascar left a 5 Kg of rice seed. This started the Carolina Rice industry.

The rice plant is figure #1. Rice is grown from uplands to waterlogged fields. Figure #2 is a mountain in the Philippines where rice is grown. Figure #3 is Deepwater rice being cultivated in Thailand. Rice Pests and Solutions: Pests take their toll on Asias' rice production every year. About 31.5% of the rice produced in Asia is taken away by pests in the fields and also in the storage room. Root Feeders are termites and rice water weevils. They usually take their toll during a dry streak. The mature rice water weevil does not do much damage to the plant but its larvae feeds on the roots which makes the plant small, slow to develop, and makes for a low yield. Leafhoppers and Planthoppers attack all parts of the plant to the point that the plant dies. A plant that has been attacked by Hoppers look like they have been burned. The term "hopper burn" has been given to plants that have been attacked by these pests. An example of "Hopper burn" is shown in figure P0, the brown area is "burned" while the rest of the field is hopper resistant. They also carry rice diseases such as tungro virus that can kill a whole crop. The brown planthopper, shown in figure P1 where it can be found, transmits the grassy stunt virus. Other insects that destroy rice are stink bugs which remove the white fluid, known as milk, from the rice.

The Green Revolution is relying heavily on insecticides. This approach may not be the proper way to do things. Insecticides seep down into the groundwater and spoils the potable water, while insect repelling crops do not last long before new strains of bugs come around. New ways, which are not very new, have been developed in order to deal with the pests as well as protecting the environment. Spiders live in all rice fields around the world. An important spider is the Wolf spider which feeds on all stages of rice insects. Hoppers are the main food source of the Wolf spider. One Wolf spider can eat up to 45 hoppers per day. The Wolf spider is figure P2. Pathogens, which are bacteria, fungus, and virus groups also present a solution to the pest problem. The plants are sprayed with a fungus that is not harmful to humans. The pests start to eat the plant and they die. Figure P3 is a Black Bug which is infected with a fungus.

China: Figure #4 is Irrigated rice being harvested by hand. Every two to three years in China there is a new strain of wheat that makes it to the market. The main reason for the need of new strains is the constant threat of insects that adapt to the current varieties. Example of Wheat production in China: Wheat-901 increased yield 39.4%. Over the past 12 years one hybrid, developed by Yuan Longping, has increased production of rice by over 240 million tons. His newest strain is expected to raise rice production by 20 to 30 per cent. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said that Yuan's work was "a contribution to mankind as a whole." In 1994, China's farm output doubled the annual total from a decade before. Region Area harvested (000 ha)

The population of China is projected to rise to 1.3 billion by the year 2000. China will have to increase grain production by 62.2 million tons per year for the next five years in order to maintain the 400 Kg needed per person to maintain a moderate nutrition level. From 1985 to 1993, the average yield rose only 54.6 million tons. At that rate there will be a 100 million ton food shortage by the year 2000. The population growth, which is 1.5% , has surpassed the rise in grain production, which is 1.34%. View chart #1 for world rice production numbers for 1994. To go along with the grain shortfall, farmland in China is shrinking at a huge rate due to the growth of cities, desertification, and soil erosion. China is losing 540,000 hectares of farmland per year. Due to the recent awareness of the environment, the government of China has also said that seven million hectares of land must be given back to the environment and preserved for the forests and grasslands. Pollution is so bad in China that most satellites cannot take accurate pictures of certain major cities. To combat the coming food crisis, China has started a seed project where the government promotes the use of hybrid seeds and sponsors a seed bank and makes a seed market. This system will result in a chain seed industry by the end of the century that is expected to raise staple crop yields by 10%.

The system that is currently in place is China's first national crop breed bank, it has over 300,000 species preserved. It also has a group of scientists that are working to isolate the most promising strains. A Rice Center has also been set up which cost the government 23 million yuan. There is no patent laws for crop varieties in China so piracy and plagiary have slowed new scientific developments. Some high yield seeds have been locked in safes, while farmers still plant strains from the 1970's. The government is getting involved with the green revolution because they know that they will have to pay a lot of money for grain imports. The government also sees that the business of seed production is profitable in China, Zhongnong Seed Corporation has consolidated 52 seed marketing companies and five research institutions, and was founded in January 1996.

Education is an important key in helping produce enough food for China. A farmer education program has been set up by the Ministry of Agriculture that will be educating 8 million farmers by the year 2010. Right now the education and technical assistance that the government has set up only reaches 2% of the farming population. By the year 2010, only the farmers that pass a standard examination will be given a "green certificate" which will give the passing farmers access to contract farming projects. Chinas' government is educating its farmers because the World Bank has reported that 23% of China's farmland has some degree of salinization. Salinization is caused by putting salt water on a field, the water evaporates and leaves a deposit of salt on top of the soil. After an extended period of time it is impossible to grow food on this area. Another farm related problem in China is the heavy use of fertilizers. The average per hectare rose from 1.44 tonnes in 1961 to 1.6 tonnes in 1965, 1.8 tonnes in 1970 and 1.9 tonnes in 1975. Then it took a huge jump in 1980 when it hit 2.8 tonnes and the 3.8 tonnes in 1985. View Chart #2 for world fertilizer use.

Viet Nam Reclamation Projects: The per capita income of a person in Viet Nam is less than $200. 57% of the persons living in rural areas, and 27% in urban areas, are poor. 78% of the 70 million people that occupy the country live in rural areas. In Viet Nam, they are having problems with their supply with potable water. The World Bank has set up a 150 million dollar program that will basically send water throughout Viet Nam. This project will take water from different rivers and will also build a dam on the Dien Vong River, this is not expected to create any environmental problems. The reclamation of forests in Viet Nam has been started to stop the destruction that has been reducing the forests that has been reducing at a rate of 350,000 ha/year from 1965 to 1990. A timber export ban has been set up to stop the cutting. The forest project will cost $70 million U.S..

India: Produces chemicals, cut diamonds, and textiles. Untreated sewage flows down the Tapi River while factories produce thick smoke. Most of the pollution comes from small factories which numbered 15,000 in 1950 and in 1994 the number had grown to 2 million. A plague of rats in 1994 caused the deaths of over 50 people. India has one of the largest population growth rates at 1.9%. The chemical fertilizers have also taken their toll on the environment, more than any other country. Hydropower dams have created a huge problem as well; they have flooded some of the best farmland in India. The cause of this is the governments' inability to make decisions.

Water is a large problem. Groundwater is falling several meters per year and the people just dig their wells deeper. There is fierce competition for the control of the major waterways. Overcultivation has forced farmers to clear forests. The result of the deforestation is soil erosion. Freeman Singh, chief of a tribe near Cherapunji puts it this way " If there is no tree, how will the soil hold the water." Other Facts: The world wears away 24 billion tons of topsoil a year. This is almost equal to the topsoil on the Australian wheatlands. The earths' population of 5.7 billion could stand upright within the 576,500 hectares of Brunei with some room to spare. Grainland per person has dropped from 0.2 hectares to almost 0.1 hectares in the last 30 years. 30% of the worlds' drylands have become deserts of some kind. 3/4 of the dry lands in Africa and North America are in some stage of desertification.

Conclusion: The Green Revolution in Asia is helping the people grow enough food to sustain the massive amounts of people that occupy the area. The Green Revolution is not just teaching people how to grow crops efficiently, but the people are also teaching the scientists the methods, such as the Wolf spider as a hopper killer, that have worked for hundreds of years. The true question is: Can the environment take the pressure that we have placed it on? The answer is probably that we will kill ourselves trying to feed ourselves. We are polluting the air, water, and the types of plants that have evolved over thousands of years are disappearing. The soil only has a little to offer but we make it give more than it can handle and then the next year ask it to give even more. At this pace there will not be anything left for anyone to breath let alone eat.