Question

What is the most significant achievement of the Green Revolution?

Answer 1

Hint: The term "green revolution" refers to a considerable rise in agricultural production as a result of the introduction of high-yield seed varieties. Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, the introduction of new, high-yielding cultivars into emerging countries resulted in a significant increase in food grain production (particularly wheat and rice). Mexico and the Indian subcontinent were the first countries where it had a huge hit.

Complete answer:
Even during bad weather conditions, the country has avoided starvation since the Green Revolution began in the early 1970s. This is the revolution's most major achievement. In the 1960s, many observers believed that widespread hunger in the developing world was unavoidable, and that population growth would outstrip food production, resulting in devastating consequences for nations like India.

 The main achievements of the Green Revolution are discussed as under:
i) Self Sufficiency: Indeed, since the Green Revolution began to make India self-sufficient in food grains, India has seen a 250 percent growth in food-grain production.
ii) Productivity: The per hectare increase of productivity of all plants such as wheat, rice, cotton, gramme, maize and bajra, is due to HYV seeds, chemical fertilisers, irrigation and mechanisation of agriculture. India increased its wheat production from 12.3 million tonnes in 1965 to 20 million tonnes in 1970.
iii) Employment: In diverse sectors where work was created by the multiple cultivation and mechanisation of agriculture, the green revolution provided employment opportunities. It helped stimulate the non-agricultural economy, which creates new jobs in different services like milling, marketing and storage.
iv) Industrial Development: The manufacturing industry has been on the increase since the Green Revolution in agricultural tools, such as tractors, diesel engines, blends, threshers and pumping sets. New manufacturing technologies were also adopted, such as higher dependence on chemical fertilisers and pesticides and boiling hundreds of wells for controlled irrigation.
v) Both scientists and the government who contributed to the Green revolutions have been regarded as a major success.

Note: Borlaug travelled to the subcontinent in an attempt to persuade governments to allow the novel wheat varieties to be imported. Government programmes that favoured these new methods of production gave farmers loans to help them implement them.