Green revolutionary

Those who named it The Green Revolution clearly did not use the phrase in its contemporary sense. Today green embodies the colour of ecology. Ironically, its proponents criticise the ‘father’ of the so called Green Revolution, Dr Norman E Borlaug, who passed away on September 12 at the age of 95, for having caused more ecological problems than he solved. There is more than a ‘grain’ of truth to this, for the hybrid strains of high yielding and disease resistant varieties of wheat that Borlaug developed completely destroyed traditional and sustainable agricultural practices in favour of less eco-friendly ones. But neither Borlaug, nor the world in the 1960s, had any choice of alternatives. That was the post world-war era of population explosion, with food output, particularly in developing countries, desperately struggling to keep pace with the growing number of mouths to feed. It had been either use of scientific innovation to dramatically raise food production, or confront the spectre of wide ranging famines in areas such as Latin America, Africa and the Indian sub-continent. Borlaug’s success with high yielding varieties in Mexico having attracted international attention, it was but inevitable that he would be drawn into the tussle at a global level. His zealous commitment enabled him to overcome resistance even from the proverbially negative bureaucracy of India, one of the many countries that gained enormously from the fruits of Borlaug’s toil.

In fact, towards the latter part of the 1960s, after using varieties developed by Borlaug, so bountiful Indian wheat harvests became that there was no space where to store the produce. Having become self-sufficient in grain cereal production, the nation had no need to import food or look for handouts from the more opulent countries. Thus, indirectly, the plant scientist had a huge role to play in fashioning the new image of India in the twenty first century, of a self-reliant and self-confident nation with a fast growing economy. It is said that about half the world’s population goes to bed every night after consuming grain descended from one of the high yield varieties developed by Borlaug and his colleagues. Aptly, he received the Nobel Prize in 1970 not for a scientific discipline but for Peace. The citation had read, “More than any other single person of this age, he has helped provide bread for a hungry world. We have made this choice in the hope that providing bread will also give the world peace.” It is, of course, difficult to correctly gauge the impact of the revolution ushered in by Borlaug, for there are many imponderables to his legacy. Its colour might not quite be green, yet there can be little doubt that by averting catastrophes of the moment he changed the course of history and armed the world with optimism to strive towards a better future. ASSAM TRIBUNE