M.S. SwaminathanChairman, National Commission on Farmers, Government of India

President, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs

Looking Back at the Green Revolution

Des Moines19 October 2006

The World Food Prize 2006 International Symposium

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”

“Everything else can wait,

but not Agriculture”

Jawaharlal Nehru, August 14-15, 1947

India’s tryst with destiny

Agriculture is the Greatest Living,

Private Sector Industry of India

providing Livelihood to over 600

million persons

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)

The most significant achievements of the first 50 years

August 14-15, 1997 : Fiftieth Anniversary of India’s Independence

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

Pope John Paul II discussing the

management of the Sahelian Drought, 1983

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

Famine: Triage Classification of Countries

Daruma(Japanese semi-dwarf) X

Fultz(U.S. winter wheat, high yield)

Fultz-Daruma(semi-dwarf, high yield)

Locals(adapted to

U.S. Northwest)X

X Turkey Red(U.S. winter, high yield)

Norin 10(semi-dwarf, winter, high yield)(Dr Gonziro Inazuka in 1935)

Gaines(semi-dwarf, winter,

U.S. adpted)

X Local Strains

New Wheats(semi-dwarf, high yield, adaptable, rust-resistant, fast-maturing,spring)

Era of Sharing of Genetic Resources

Wheat Revolution Symphony (1968)(Pan GoI Approach)

o Technology

o Services

o Public Policies

o Farmers’ enthusiasm

“Brimming with enthusiasm, hard-working, skilled and determined, the Punjab farmer has been the backbone of the revolution. 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”

Secret of Success :Farmer – Scientist

Partnership

- M S Swaminathan “The Punjab Miracle”, The Illustrated Weekly of India , May 11, 1969

“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

Sustainable Food Production

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

Some questions we face in Biology today

Green RevolutionGreen Revolution : Commodity- : Commodity-centred increase in productivitycentred increase in productivity

Change In plant architecture, and harvest Change In plant architecture, and harvest indexindex

Change in the physiological rhythm-Change in the physiological rhythm-insensitive to photoperiodisminsensitive to photoperiodism

Lodging resistanceLodging resistance

Evergreen RevolutionEvergreen Revolution : increasing productivity : increasing productivity in perpetuity without associated ecological harmin perpetuity without associated ecological harm

Organic agricultureOrganic agriculture : cultivation without any use of : cultivation without any use of chemical inputs like mineral fertilizers and chemical chemical inputs like mineral fertilizers and chemical pesticidespesticides

Green AgricultureGreen Agriculture : cultivation with the help of : cultivation with the help of integrated pest management, integrated nutrient integrated pest management, integrated nutrient supply and integrated natural resource management supply and integrated natural resource management systemssystems

EcoagricultureEcoagriculture : Based on conservation of soil, : Based on conservation of soil, water and biodiversity and the application of water and biodiversity and the application of traditional knowledge and ecological prudencetraditional knowledge and ecological prudence

EM AgricultureEM Agriculture : system of farming using effective : system of farming using effective microorganisms (EM)microorganisms (EM)

White agriculture : System of agriculture based on White agriculture : System of agriculture based on substantial use of microorganisms, particularly fungisubstantial use of microorganisms, particularly fungi

One-straw RevolutionOne-straw Revolution : system of natural farming : system of natural farming without ploughing, chemical fertilizers, weeding and without ploughing, chemical fertilizers, weeding and chemical pesticides and herbicideschemical pesticides and herbicides

Green Revolution and Evergreen Revolution : Pathways

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

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

 Genetic Shield

Preparing for adverse changes in precipitation

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.

The Way Ahead

Post Harvest Processing & Value addition

Water BankCommunity Gene Bank

Seed Bank

Cultivation

Community Grain Bank

Participatory Breeding

Field Gene Bank

ConsumptionGenetic Enhancement

Conservation

Community Food, Nutrition and Water Security System

Livestock and Livelihoods

Over 50 million women and

15 million men are involved in

Dairy Enterprises in India

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

India : Largest Producer of Milk in the World

Jamsetji Tata National Virtual Academy for Rural Prosperity [NVA]

State Level Hub (MSSRF)Data Managers (both connectivity and content) Data

Generators & Providers

Data Users (Rural families)Block level hub

Uplink Satellite

Web based interactive

portal

ICT-enabled knowledge flow

Lab to Lab, Lab to Land, Land to Lab, Land to Land

Torch bearers of the Rural Knowledge Revolution

Life saving role of VKC during Tsunami (26 December 2004)- VEERAMPATTINAM

http://www.nemoc.navy.mil/Library/Metoc/Indian+Ocean/Bay+of+Bengal/Models/Swaps/Sig+Wav+Ht+and+Dir+Series/index.html

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.

No Time to RelaxShaping 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