National 5 Geography: The Green Revolution in India

National 5 Geography: The Green Revolution in India

1. Advantages

   • Crops are more resistant to disease
     • More reliable harvests
   • Increase in food production
     • More people can be fed
     • Higher yields mean lower prices
       • Poorer people can afford more food
   • Faster growing crops
     • More harvests can be gathered
       • More food
   • Better off farmers can afford chemicals and machinery
     • Become richer
       • Employ more local people
   • More jobs available in businesses supporting farming

2. Disadvantages

   • Not all farmers have felt the benefits
   • Less well off farmers could not compete
     • They sold their land and moved to the city
   • Farmers borrowed money to buy crops
     • They are now in debt
   • Machinery has replaced people, causing rural unemployment
   • Chemicals have polluted local water supplies
   • Irrigation has increased the demand on drinking water stores
   • Some of the new rice doesn't taste as nice

3. What is The Green Revolution?

   • Introduced in the 1960's
   • A method of securing food supplies for the growing population
   • Reason for The Green Revolution
     • Rapidly growing population to feed
     • India cannot afford to import all of the food it needs
       • Many people grow their own food
   • Included the introduction of...
     • Fertilisers and Pesticides
     • Land Reform
     • Irrigation Channels
     • Machinery
       • Tractors plough fields and harvest crops
     • Improved infrastructure
   • Aims
     • Develop new types of rice that give higher yields
     • Introduce irrigation schemes
     • Use fertilisers to help crops grow
     • Use pesticides to prevent disease