The World Food Prize 2006 International Symposium

Des Moines
19 October 2006

Looking Back at the Green Revolution

M.S. Swaminathan
Chairman, National Commission on Farmers, Government of India
President, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
Statue of Mahatma Gandhi outside
Pietermaritzburg Railway Station,
South Africa where he was thrown out
of a first class compartment

This year marks the centenary of

Gandhi’s non-violent, non-cooperation
movement which inspired among
others Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther
King and Cory Aquino
 “To a people famishing
and idle, the only
acceptable form in which
God can dare appear is
work and promise of food
as wages”
India’s tryst with destiny

“Everything else can wait,

but not Agriculture”

Jawaharlal Nehru, August 14-15, 1947

Agriculture is the Greatest Living,

Private Sector Industry of India
providing Livelihood to over 600
million persons
 August 14-15, 1997 :
Fiftieth Anniversary of India’s Independence

The most significant achievements of

the first 50 years
o Adherance to a democratic system
of governance from the village to
the national level
o Green Revolution leading to
adequate food availability (from
begging bowl to bread basket)

Shri. K. R. Narayanan, President of India, August 14-15, 1997

 Pope John Paul II
discussing the
management of the
Sahelian Drought, 1983
Famine: Triage Classification of Countries

Haiti Can’t- be-saved

Egypt Can’t-be-saved
The Gambia Walking Wounded
Tunisia Should Receive Food
Libya Walking Wounded
India Can’t-be-saved
Pakistan Should Receive Food

- Paul and William Paddock, 1967

 Era of Sharing of Genetic Resources
Daruma Fultz
(Japanese semi-dwarf) X (U.S. winter wheat, high yield)

Fultz-Daruma X Turkey Red

(semi-dwarf, high yield) (U.S. winter, high yield)

Locals Norin 10
(adapted to X (semi-dwarf, winter, high yield)
U.S. Northwest) (Dr Gonziro Inazuka in 1935)

Gaines
(semi-dwarf, winter, X Local Strains
U.S. adpted)
New Wheats
(semi-dwarf, high yield, adaptable,
rust-resistant, fast-maturing,spring)
Wheat Revolution Symphony (1968)
(Pan GoI Approach)

o Technology
o Services
o Public Policies
o Farmers’ enthusiasm
Secret of Success : “Brimming with enthusiasm, hard-working,
skilled and determined, the Punjab farmer
Farmer – Scientist
has been the backbone of the revolution.
Partnership Revolutions are usually associated with
the young, but in this revolution, age has
been no obstacle to participation. Farmers,
young and old, educated and uneducated,
have easily taken to the new agronomy. It
has been heart-warming to see young
college graduates, retired officials, ex-
armymen, illiterate peasants and small
farmers queuing up to get the new seeds.
At least in the Punjab, the divorce between
intellect and labour, which has been the
bane of our agriculture is vanishing”
- M S Swaminathan
“The Punjab Miracle”, The Illustrated Weekly of India , May 11, 1969
 Sustainable Food Production
“Intensive cultivation of land without conservation of soil fertility and soil
structure would lead ultimately to the springing up of deserts. Irrigation without
arrangements for drainage would result in soils getting alkaline or saline.
Indiscriminate use of pesticides, fungicides and herbicides could cause
adverse changes in biological balance as well as lead to an increase in the
incidence of cancer and other diseases, through the toxic residues present
in the grains or other edible parts. Unscientific tapping of underground water
would lead to the rapid exhaustion of this wonderful capital resource left to
us through ages of natural farming. The rapid replacement of numerous locally
adapted varieties with one or two high yielding strains in large contiguous
areas would result in the spread of serious diseases capable of wiping out
entire crops, as happened prior to the Irish potato famine of 1845 and the
Bengal rice famine of 1942. Therefore, the initiation of exploitative agriculture
without a proper understanding of the various consequences of every one of
the changes introduced into traditional agriculture and without first building up
a proper scientific and training base to sustain it, may only lead us into an
era of agricultural disaster in the long run, rather than to an era of agricultural
prosperity.”
- M.S. Swaminathan
Indian Science Congress, Varanasi, January 4, 1968
 Some questions we face in Biology today
Will Malthus Continue to be Wrong?
We need to set priorities, understand reasons that make
ecosystems resistant or vulnerable; also whether stressed
ecosystems, such as marine fisheries, have a threshold at which
they won’t recover

India will be the most

populated country in the
world by 2030

What don’t we know? 1 July 2005 Vol 309 Science

Green Revolution and Evergreen Revolution : Pathways
Green Revolution : Commodity- Evergreen Revolution : increasing productivity
centred increase in productivity in perpetuity without associated ecological harm

Change In plant architecture, and harvest Organic agriculture : cultivation without any use of
index
Change in the physiological rhythm-
insensitive to photoperiodism
Lodging resistance
chemical inputs like mineral fertilizers and chemical
pesticides
Green Agriculture : cultivation with the help of
integrated pest management, integrated nutrient
supply and integrated natural resource management
systems
Ecoagriculture : Based on conservation of soil,
water and biodiversity and the application of
traditional knowledge and ecological prudence
EM Agriculture : system of farming using effective
microorganisms (EM)
White agriculture : System of agriculture based on
substantial use of microorganisms, particularly fungi
One-straw Revolution : system of natural farming
without ploughing, chemical fertilizers, weeding and
chemical pesticides and herbicides
 Threats to an Ever-green Revolution

o Invasive Alien Species

o Abiotic Stresses
o Biotic Stresses
o Market factors
o Climate Change
o Constraints in the exchange of genetic resources
o IPR and access to technologies
o Diminishing support to public good research
Biodiversity & Molecular Breeding : Mangroves

“There are no useless plants” - Charaka

 Open field trial of a transgenic rice plant with
Superoxide dismutase gene from Avicennia marina

Field Trails being carried out at Kalpakkam

 Genetic Shield

Prosopis juliflora has wide

adaptation to water stress
and drought conditions
Used as source material
for drought tolerant genes
Control 36 days of water
withdrawal
Preparing for adverse changes in precipitation
 The Way Ahead

Our ability to achieve a paradigm shift from green to an

ever-green revolution and our ability to face the
challenges of global warming and sea level rise will
depend upon our ability to harmonise organic farming
and the new genetics.
 Community Food, Nutrition and
Water Security System

Conservation Genetic Cultivation Consumption

Enhancement

Field Gene Participatory Seed Bank Community

Bank Breeding Grain Bank

Community Water Bank Post Harvest

Gene Bank Processing &
Value addition
Farming Systems Diversification and Value Addition

8% growth rate in horticulture and animal husbandry will be

necessary to achieve 4% growth rate in agriculture as a whole

Livestock and Livelihoods

Over 50 million women and
15 million men are involved
in Dairy Enterprises in India

India : Largest Producer of Milk in the World

 Jamsetji Tata National Virtual Academy for Rural Prosperity [NVA]
ICT-enabled knowledge flow
Lab to Lab, Lab to Land, Land to Lab, Land to Land

Uplink
Satellite

Web based
interactive State Level Hub (MSSRF)
portal Data
Data Managers (both connectivity and content)
Generators
& Providers

Data Users (Rural

Block level hub families)
Torch bearers of the Rural Knowledge Revolution
 http://www.nemoc.navy.mil/Library/Metoc/Indian+Ocean/Bay+of+Bengal/Models/Swaps/Sig+Wav+
Ht+and+Dir+Series/index.html
Life saving role of VKC during Tsunami (26 December 2004)- VEERAMPATTINAM
 No Time to Relax
Shaping our Agricultural Future

Population rich but land hungry countries like China and

India have no option except to produce more food grains
and other agricultural commodities per units of land and
water under conditions of diminishing per capita availability
of arable land and irrigation water, and of expanding biotic
and abiotic stresses. Such a challenge can be met only by
harnessing the best in frontier technologies and blending
them with our rich heritage of ecological prudence. Eco-
technologies for an Ever-green revolution should be the
bottom line of our strategy to shape our agricultural future.
 Iowa gifted to the world great
visionaries and missionaries like
Henry Wallace, Norman Borlaug,
Aldo Leopold and George
Washington Carver. Norman
Borlaug’s epic fight against hunger
is well known. George Washington
Carver served as an Advisor to
Mahatma Gandhi on matters relating
to eliminating poverty and improving
human nutrition. It is therefore
appropriate that Iowa is the home to
the World Food Prize Foundation.
George Washington Carver