Farm In Form, Again? Second Green Revolution Has Arrived, Say Scientists; Call It A ‘Big Feat’ For India

In a session titled ‘Plenary on the achievement of Agricultural Research in India’, agricultural scientists of the nation have opined that a “Second Green Revolution” has already come to India, reports Indian Express.

“We should never wait for the US to announce the Second Green Revolution, and should go by the record of our food production in recent years to acknowledge it.” IE quoted the scientists as saying.

“There was an increase of 40 kg per hectare in wheat production from in the late 1960s (pre-green revolution to green revolution). In the later two phases, this has increased by 36 per cent per hectare from production during the green revolution,” Dr OP Yadav, Director of Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, was quoted as saying by IE.

According to experts, as a result of better farm practices and technology, the increase has also been recorded in rain-fed zones where there is no irrigation infrastructure.

"India had seen a manifold increase in food production even during times when soil quality was reportedly poor due to low nitrogen levels," said Dr Ashok K Patra, Director ICAR -Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal.

Patra, however, stressed the importance of preserving soil by not adding a large amount of fertilizers, pesticides, plastics in it.

“We have been consistently producing 300 million tonnes of foodgrains per year, which is a big achievement for a country like India, which used to be highly insufficient in food production,” Patra added.