Why didn't the green revolution in the 1960s and 1970s work like it should have?

Answer 1

Governments can learn from recent history the importance of developing local agricultural technology. A major effort made in the 1960s and 1970s—the green revolution—demonstrated the potential for increased grain production in Asia. It was an effort to bring the agricultural technology of the industrial world to the developing countries, but the high-yielding strains of wheat and rice that were selected required irrigation, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides—all costly and beyond the economic means of too many of the farmers in the developing world.

Instead of transplanting industrial technology into the developing countries, small, efficient farms and local structures for marketing, credit, transportation, food storage, and agricultural education should be developed. International research centers need to examine the conditions of tropical countries and orient their research toward appropriate technology: labor-intensive rather than energy-intensive agricultural methods. For example, labor-intensive technology, such as the use of manual grinders for grains, is appropriate in some places because it makes the best use of human, financial, and natural resources. A manual grinder can process 20 pounds of grain per hour, replacing the mortar and pestle, which in the same time can pound a maximum of only 3 pounds. The specific technology that is appropriate varies from situation to situation.