Background to the Green Revolution

In the mid 1960's scientists working in Mexico and the Philippines and backed by money from the USA developed new varieties of wheat, maize and rice.
With these new varieties farmers could increase yields from each hectare by two or three times.
These hybrid varieties became known as HYV's or high-yielding varieties
The use of chemical fertilisers was also increased
In less than 5 years yields of rice, wheat and maize rose by up to 40% in many countries in Asia including India and Bangladesh.
Grants and loans were made available to buy the new seeds and fertilizers
Although there were many advantages of HYV's there were also disadvantages

Advantages

Disadvantages

Poor farmers could not afford HYV's fertilizers and machinery.
Some borrowed and ended up with large debts
HYV's need more water and fertilizer, which is expensive
New machinery replaced manual labour leading to unemployment and rural-urban migration

	Created by b_turay over 11 years ago

Advantages and Disadvantages of HYV