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Evaluating 35 Years of Green RevolutionTechnology in Villages of BulandshahrDistrict, Western UP, North India
KATHLEEN BAKER* & SARAH JEWITT***Kings College London, London, UK, **University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
Final version received July 2005
ABSTRACT This paper analyses the experiences of over 35 years of Green Revolution (GR)technology in villages of the Bulandshahr District, western UP. Fieldwork in three villagesrevealed that perceptions of GR were extremely positive because higher yields brought foodsecurity for all in the area, and financial security for many. Indirect benefits, such as urbandevelopment, have improved employment opportunities which have benefited even the poorest and rural electrification has transformed rural livelihoods, especially for women. Predictably, thebenefits of GR technology are not equally spread: the poorest are better off, but the gap betweenrich and poor is now greater than ever. As gently declining yields are paralleled by growing
populations, farmers are interested in further increasing land productivity.
I. Introduction
The introduction of Green Revolution technology by the US to countries of the
South in the mid 1960s provoked extensive and fierce debate in the international
arena. Was it really possible for new high yielding varieties of wheat, rice and maize
to end centuries of food insecurity? Did the dependence of these crops on costly
inputs put them beyond the reach of the worlds poorest farmers, and were there
other effects of the technology that outweighed the benefits? Controversy on the
impact of the Green Revolution (GR) continued for decades but today the literature
is quieter on the subject, reflecting instead more pressing contemporary concerns
the Gene Revolution, for example (Atkins and Bowler, 2001). While academic
debates may have moved on, the transfer of GR technology has been continuing,
quietly, in many parts of the developing world, and now mature and well-adapted to
new environments, it is central to agriculture in these areas. A reassessment of the
longer-term effects of GR technology is thus timely and the aim of this paper is to
evaluate the experience of 30 years of GR technology in villages of BulandshahrDistrict, Uttar Pradesh (UP), north India.
Correspondence Address: Kathleen Baker, Senior Lecturer in Geography, Department of Geography,
Kings College London, Strand Campus, London WC2R 2LS, UK. Email: [email protected]
Journal of Development Studies,
Vol. 43, No. 2, 312339, February 2007
ISSN 0022-0388 Print/1743-9140 Online/07/020312-28 2007 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/00220380601125180
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When India was struck by drought in 196566 approximately 12 million tonnes of
wheat were produced in the country. By 196869, after the HYVs had been
introduced, wheat production jumped to around 16 mn tonnes, and by the early
1980s it was double that of the mid 1960s (Swaminathan, 1996; Kapila and Kapila,
2002). Most of this spectacular increase came initially from a limited area, from the
wheat growing lands of Punjab, Haryana and western UP where irrigation facilities
were well established (Whitcombe, 1972). Since the 1960s Indias indigenous
technological capability has been expanded (Kapila and Kapila, 2002), and HYVs
and their derivatives are more widely grown (Farmer, 1986).
Despite their sustained success in alleviating food shortages, the literature has
often looked harshly on GR technology. Far from bringing about socioeconomic
development, preliminary evidence suggested that GR technology was widening the
gap between rich and poor. The earliest prognoses were most discouraging
(Ladejinsky, 1969; Cleaver, 1972; Chakravarti, 1973; Pearse, 1980; Byres, 1981,
1983), but predictions frequently miss their mark (Glaeser, 1987; Shiva, 1991) and itnow appears that some of the earliest forecasts were premature and to some extent,
speculative (Hayami and Ruttan, 1985; Swaminathan, 1996; Morris and Byerlee,
1998; Atkins and Bowler, 2001). In spite of this, Farmers argument that the GR in
India has increased inter-regional disparities in agricultural production and, as a
consequence prosperity, cannot be ignored (Farmer, 1986). The GR has been of far
greater benefit in some areas than in others.
Detailed follow up studies on the longer-term effects of the GR are relatively few,
but two studies are noteworthy in this respect: the North Arcot Study (Harriss, 1991;
Hazell and Ramasamy, 1991) and the study of East Laguna village in the Philippines(Hayami and Kikuchi, 2000). These suggest that many of the negative predictions
dating back to the 1970s and 1980s have not been borne out; that GR technology
may have been more beneficial than was initially anticipated, that its effects have
been more complex, and that isolating the socioeconomic and environmental
impacts of GR technology has been complicated due to the simultaneous effects of a
range of other location specific factors (Lipton and Longhurst, 1989; Hazell and
Ramaswamy, 1991; Harriss, 1991; Morris and Byerlee, 1998; Hayami and Kikuchi,
2000).
The aim of this paper is to contribute to the literature on the longer-term effectsof the GR technology on rural communities by focusing on the experiences of
three villages in Bulandshahr District, Western UP, North India (Figure 1). These
formed part of a larger study conducted by Baker (1975) in six villages of the
District in 1972, and Bakers study in its turn, was nested in a larger, District level
survey conducted by Allan, also in 1972 (Allan, 1973). Located in the Ganga
Jamuna doab (land between two rivers), this part of western UP with its alluvial
soils is an area of vast agricultural potential and has been well supplied with canal
irrigation since 1857 (Cautley, 1854; Atkinson, 1903; Whitcombe, 1972). As a
consequence, the area was one of the earliest recipients of GR technology through
the High Yielding Varieties Programme in 1966 (Swaminathan, 1996), and the
1972 studies revealed that within seven years of their introduction to the area, high
yielding varieties of wheat had been widely adopted in Bulandshahr District, and
high yielding maize and rice were growing in importance, though more slowly
(Allan, 1973; Baker, 1975).
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Two of Bakers study villages, Sabdalpur and Kurwal Banaras, were revisited
in 2001 as part of a pilot study to evaluate the longer-term impact of the
Green Revolution in the District, and a third village, Chirchita, was visited in 2003
(Figure 1). Three villages not involved in the 1972 study were also visited in 2001
Nausana, Chola and Nai Basti to ensure that Sabdalpur and Kurwal Banaras were
not significantly different in terms of local livelihood patterns. Our aim is to extend
the study to all six villages surveyed by Baker in 1972 to investigate the nature of
change, and to evaluate, as far as is possible, the longer-term effects of Green
Revolution technology on rural livelihoods. Our recent fieldwork has focused onfour groups of people: the first three were landholders with large and medium sized
holdings (defined below), small landholders and landless people. Women constituted
the fourth group of our enquiry, but limited space in this paper does not allow us to
explore the ways in which GR technology has affected their lives, as far as it can
be disentangled from other factors. We thus confine ourselves to the effects of
GR technology as far as they are discernible on large and medium, and small
landholders, and on landless people.
II. Field Methods in 1972 and in 2001/2003
The substance of this paper is based largely on three periods of fieldwork; the first in
1972, and more recently in 2001 and in 2003. In 1972 most of the information was
derived from questionnaires to 196 farmers; from observation; from the collection of
soil and crop cutting samples, and from secondary source material (Baker, 1975).
Figure 1. Location of study villages in Bulandshahr District, UP
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The data were collected in as rigorous a manner as possible, and where possible, were
analysed with statistical tests. Although Baker was confident that the results of the
fieldwork in 1972 could have been replicated within the study area, were the study to
have been repeated at that time, she found the approach far from satisfactory as
there was little scope for farmer participation (other than providing answers to the
questionnaires), once the pilot phase was complete. This was very much a study of its
time. Partly because of Bakers frustration and disappointment with the field
methodology used in 1972, and partly because of developments in approaches to
fieldwork both in geography and in development, the post 2000 follow up study has
chosen to adopt a much more informal approach which has encouraged greater
interaction between researchers, farmers and research assistants than did the 1972
study.
Reflecting the success (particularly since the early 1980s) of agrarian ethnogra-
phies in revealing indigenous environmental knowledge in context and insider
perspectives on agrarian change (Brokensha et al., 1980; Chambers, 1983; Richards,1985; Breman, 1985), our aim post 2000 has been to use qualitative methods,
particularly Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) to elucidate the dynamics of
change in the fieldwork area. Our choice of methodology was driven largely by our
own, very positive experience of PRA in the field (Jewitt, 2002a; Baker and
Edmonds, 2004), echoed in a growing literature on the subject deriving from a range
of different disciplines and interests (Chambers, 1994, 1997; Oakley, 1991; Hinton,
1996; Koopman, 1997; Goebel, 1998; Mahiri, 1998; Ira, 2001; World Bank, 2005).
We have found PRA particularly beneficial when participants become deeply
involved in the questions being asked and take on a leading and advisory role in theresearch process. Although the following of such leads was not infallible, PRA
allowed uncertainties to be challenged and disagreements to be aired in an open and
relaxed manner. Such sessions proved to be very valuable for both revealing the
unequal impacts agrarian change on different socioeconomic and gender groups and
for helping to triangulate the information collected.
Informal discussions with key informants and with groups of people in the villages
proved a valuable introduction to the fieldwork. Once we had begun to understand
local perceptions of the current farming scene and of change through Green
Revolution technology and other factors, a variety of participatory methods wereemployed and especially those which involved participants in producing diagrams,
charts and ranked information. Secondary source information has also been used to
supplement our primary data and to assist with triangulation.
Critique of Field Methods
In spite of the attractiveness of a study such as this with a longitudinal component,
the authors are in no way blind to its shortcomings (Menard, 1991; Ruspini, 2000).
The first limitation was the decision by the authors to adopt a radically different
approach to the fieldwork post-2000 from 1972. As a consequence, the results and
analysis take a very different form from the 1972 study which relied heavily on the
statistical analysis of questionnaire data. In our more recent study, results can be
analysed only with the aid of ranked information, diagrams and time lines, all of
which have been carefully confirmed by triangulation. In the authors opinions, lack
35 Years of Green Revolution Technology in India 315
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of precision in these data does not in the least diminish their value, quite the
contrary; the reflexive nature of the participatory approach gives the research added
depth. Second, over a period of approximately 30 years one cannot compare like
with like: India has changed; the situation in the study area has changed; the village
people have changed (some 90 per cent of those interviewed in the study villages in
1972 are now dead); the experiences, objectives and approaches to fieldwork by the
researchers have changed, and as a consequence, precise methods of comparison are
seldom possible. A third limitation is that life moves on and variables which are
important now may never have been considered 30 years ago. For example, women
played a relatively small role in managing the new technology in the 1960s but now
they appear to be more involved. A fourth limitation concerns the use of
participatory methods in village studies. While we remain strongly in favour of
their use as a means of data collection, we did encounter some of the difficulties
faced by Mosse (1995) when attempting to use PRA with resource poor villagers.
Conducting PRA with groups of Scheduled Caste villagers required much deter-mination and persistence on our part; not because such villagers were unwilling to
talk to us (although we obviously had to fit in with their busy work schedules) but
because senior members of village society were in constant attendance (possibly)
influencing their responses and urging us to move to other sites. Nevertheless,
participatory methods were considered preferable by the researchers to many other
methods of data collection. Participant observation would, perhaps, have yielded
more detailed information but our time schedule did not permit this and
questionnaires would not permit the rich discussions and enthusiastic mapping/
ranking sessions generated by PRA. In spite of the many inevitable limitations of thedata, we are confident that were we to re-run the studies in all the villages we have
visited, our findings would be much the same. We thus feel justified in presenting
them here.
The paper proceeds by reviewing the main forms of material change in the villages
based on qualitative observation by Baker. Changes in cropping patterns are then
examined to reveal the continued importance of HYVs and having established that
these are now even more important in farm production than they were in 1972, we
seek to assess the relative impacts of GR technology on farmers with larger holdings,
farmers with small holdings, and landless people, both men and women. First,however, observations of change.
III. Qualitative Observations of Change
First impressions of the villages by Baker after 30 years were of astonishing material
improvement. Kurwal Banaras, some 5 km from the centre of Bulandshahr, the
District capital, and Sabdalpur and Chirchita, each about 8 km from the same place
were now much nearer the capital than they were 30 years ago. In 1972, it was a
bumpy bicycle ride along katcha (unmade) roads to each of the study villages but
now they are all linked to Bulandshahr by metalled roads. Vehicular traffic is
plentiful on all roads, and in the villages, but the formerly ubiquitous bullock cart,
once invaluable for transport and traction on the farm is almost totally absent,
replaced by the stronger buffalo. Farm machinery is abundant whereas 30 years ago
it was negligible. Houses are pukka and semi-pukka, brick built, more spacious than
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the ancient huts of the past. The alleyways between the houses are mostly, though
not yet entirely brick paved, built with a camber to ensure that rain and other waste
water runs off into narrow drains on either side. These are a major improvement on
former pathways which were a quagmire in the rainy season and dissected by ruts in
the dry season. Unpleasant smells are also negligible. Open wells are rare and have
been replaced by hand pumps in the majority of dwellings. Electricity cables, sagging
inelegantly, reach almost every house; television aerials are numerous, and there was
one satellite dish in each village. Flowering plants and shrubs in the compounds of
some, though not all houses, reflect care and attention. Gardens were more common
in Kurwal than in Chirchita, which still retains a more traditional rural atmosphere.
Standards of dress are everywhere much higher, very few people are dressed in torn
and ill-fitting clothes as they were 30 years ago, and it was gratifying that the eye
infections and septic wounds so frequently evident on limbs in those days, were
virtually absent. Many more people were wearing prescription spectacles and the
quality of teeth, particularly those of people over 30 years of age looked better thanin the past. All humanity, in all the villages seemed a great deal more healthy and
better fed. First impressions after 30 years were most encouraging and although
subsequent fieldwork revealed that considerable differentiation continued to exist
within the villages, all socioeconomic groups insisted that conditions had improved
for everybody.
Table 1 is a qualitative assessment by Baker of visible change in Sabdalpur,
Kurwal Banaras and Chirchita over the past 30 years. Discussions with everyone
with whom we spoke, both men and women focused at some stage on changes in the
quality of life over the past 30 years and those old enough to remember that far backconfirmed the changes described. When asked to explain the reasons for such
improvements, the answer was always the same: high yielding seeds, and particularly
wheat, adopted in the 1960s had seen the threat of famine abate and subsequently,
higher yields had led to increased wealth and development. This concurred exactly
with Bakers findings in the 1972 study (Baker, 1975). In addition to material
changes, Baker had a strong impression that peoples attitudes and outlook had also
changed since 1972. There was now much more evidence of technical progress and of
participation in the modern world. Although the elders in the village still claimed
and received the respect of the majority, there was nonetheless a feeling that the clearordering of society along caste lines, so evident 30 years ago had perhaps lost a little
of its rigidity. People from different castes sat together for the discussion groups
more readily than they did 35 years ago, and women were prepared to speak to us
now. In 1972 they were not much involved in the Green Revolution and had little to
contribute to discussions on the subject. Today they were more educated and more
vocal, but we had to ask specifically to meet with them as men were always the first
to be involved in participatory discussions. It should be added that Bulandshahr, and
neighbouring doab districts such as Meerut do not typify UP as a whole which is well
below the national average for a range of well-being indicators, a reflection of
government inertia with regard to public provisioning (Dreze and Gazdar, 1996:
100).
It is unlikely, however, that all the material improvements in the study villages can
be attributed to GR technology. Many other factors directly and indirectly related to
the GR have probably also contributed to positive change so, as in Hayami and
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Kikuchis study in the Philippines (2000), and as in Hazell and Ramasamys report
on North Arcot, it is difficult to distinguish the effects of the GR from other factors
on the livelihoods of local people (Hazell and Ramasamy, 1991). The same is
undoubtedly true of western UP where the effects of GR technology cannot be
isolated from a web of other interrelated factors: a sustained programme of research
and development into agriculture alongside the GR (Kapila and Kapila, 2002) has
enabled the latter to prosper in prime agricultural areas such as Bulandshahr, though
not everywhere. In tandem with developments in crop technology, the physical and
institutional infrastructure have been developed by the state government: rural
electrification is now almost complete (personal communication, Agriculture School,
Table 1. Changes common to both Sabdalpur and Kurwal Banaras over a period of 30 years
1972 2001
Population High Noticeably higher, particularlymore children
Quality of buildings Almost all katcha Almost all pukka with the worstsemi-pukka, very few katcha
Lanes/alleys invillage betweenbuildings
Katcha, mud surface,frequently withstanding water
Most pukka brick paths,aesthetically pleasing, lessstanding water
Electricity Absent Electricity since early 1980sWells Numerous None in evidenceDomestic water supply Wells Hand pumps in approx. 70% of
housesHeavy machinery for
land preparation
and harvesting
Limited Plentiful within villages
Draught energy Animal power 80% Animal power 2030%Diesel 20% Electricity/diesel 6070%
Machinery to aid processingof agricultural produce:flour mills/chaff cutters
Rare Accessible to most
Cars/pickups/motorbikes Rare More commonQuality of dress Poor, mostly Indian style Much better quality, designer
fashions evidentEvidence of wealthTVs None 50
Fridges None 20Washing machines None 15Use of LPG for cooking None 40% of householdsTelephones None One per villageEducation Most were uneducated
or had only attendedprimary school for awhile
Over the past 1520 years allchildren (girls and boys) had beento either government or privateschools
Appearance of dwellings Pleasant but simple Many are elaborate and beautifullyconstructed, adorned by plantssuch as bougainvillea to enhance
their appearance. Very few are asbasic as in 1972
Source: Baker and Jewitt fieldwork (2001).
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Bulandshahr, 2001) whereas in 1972 only one of the six study villages had access to
electricity. Availability of irrigation water, fertiliser, insecticide and pesticide and
farm machinery of all types have increased significantly (Kapila and Kapila, 2002).
Thirty years ago these were in short supply, limiting factors on the uptake and
success of HYVs (Baker, 1975). The marketing structure is now more efficient than
it was 30 years ago, and alongside plant breeding programmes, animal breeding
has improved considerably (Kar, 2002).
Government investment in agricultural development, to some extent, has been
driven by the growing strength of the rural lobby. Following protests from the so-
called new farmers movements of the late 1970s and 1980s against attempts by
government to reduce subsidies on agricultural inputs, in particular fertiliser and
fuel, central government has accepted that the influence of the rural lobby cannot be
ignored (Byres, 1981; Brass, 1995; Corbridge and Harriss, 2000). The Bhartiya Kisan
Union (BKU) was active in western UP during the 1980s, and as Byres (1981: 49)
observes, the dominant members of rural society ensured that the benefits of the newagricultural technology were directed towards serving their own interests. This both
supports views in the study villages that it was GR technology that has led to
material success, and suggests that it was the strength of the farming lobby which
played a significant part in determining who the beneficiaries of GR technology
were.
Land reform has been another factor that has brought benefits to some. There
have been several land reforms within UP, part of a wider Indian policy (Das, 2000),
and land ceilings in UP have attempted to limit the accumulation of land by richer,
larger land owners, at the expense of the poor (Das, 2000; Vyas, 2002). There hasbeen some loss of land by some of the largest landholders (below), but the most
significant change is the increasing number of small landholders who are mainly
from the poorest castes and classes. Providing land to the Scheduled Castes (SCs)
and poorer classes in UP has been a focus of activity for the Bahujan Samaj Party,
BSP, whose leader, Mayawati, is the only Dalit (SC) woman to have become chief
minister of any Indian state thus far (Jeffrey and Lerche, 2000). She has introduced
legislation directed at reducing caste based atrocities and discrimination, the result
being that people have been empowered and have more of a sense of honour
(Corbridge and Harriss, 2000; Jeffrey, 2002). A key issue for the Mayawatigovernment is the Ambedkar village scheme launched in Uttar Pradesh during
Ambedkar Centenary year in 199091. Under this scheme, one village in each Block
with a high proportion of SCs is selected for special government assistance which
includes reconstruction of the houses of the poorest, provision of sanitation,
provision of paid labour to construct a better environment, and through land
reform, some redistribution of land (Corbridge and Harriss, 2000).
In recent years, liberalisation accompanying policies of economic stabilisation and
structural adjustment has brought about further change in rural India (Byres, 1998).
Some of the most significant effects of structural adjustment have been the reduction
of state control on marketing of crops, and the reduction of subsidies on agricultural
inputs, in particular fertiliser and fuel. These are undoubtedly affecting socio-
economic development in rural areas and are independent of GR technology.
Numerous factors have thus played a part in influencing socioeconomic conditions
over the past 30 years, nevertheless, when this was put to people in all three
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villages, both men and women insisted that most improvements were linked directly
or indirectly to GR technology. For example, perceptions were that improvements to
infrastructure, particularly rural electrification, had been introduced with irrigation
of HYVs in mind; education had become more affordable as a result of profits from
HYVs, and job opportunities in the District capital, Bulandshahr had increased,
allegedly as a result of the prosperity brought by the HYVs. Jeffrey (2002) reached
similar conclusions in Meerut regarding increased employment opportunities.
Alongside the positive reactions to GR technology there was a widely expressed
fear that livelihood security derived from HYVs could be threatened by the scourge
of uncontrolled population growth. This, it was argued, was causing increased land
fragmentation, and although the Green Revolution is allegedly scale neutral, though
not resource neutral (Rao, 1975), the benefits accruing to small farmers were fewer
than to large farmers. This will be considered after we have explored the current
cropping patterns to identify any major changes since 1972, and to gauge the
importance of HYVs, over 35 years since their introduction to the area.
IV. Changes in Cropping Patterns in Bulandshahrs Study Villages
The farming year consists of two main seasons: the rabi or winter season (October
April), and the kharif or summer monsoon season (JulyOctober). In 1972 wheat,
mainly HYVs, dominated the rabi, while the kharif produced a wider variety of
crops, including maize, rice, millet and lentils. Sugarcane, the growing period of
which extends beyond a single season was also of significance in the cropping pattern
and was in evidence throughout the year. In addition to the two dominant seasons,farmers also took catch crops of melon, tobacco, onions, chillies, beans, gram and
other short duration crops in the zaid, a short season (late March/early AprilJune/
July). The areal extent of zaid crops was limited both at a district level and in the
study villages. Essentially, zaid crops gave flavour and variety to the diet, they were
not usually staples (Baker, 1975). The main change since 1972 has been that the
irrigated area in both the rabi and kharif has been extended and so has the
production of wheat, rice and sugarcane. This is due to the spread of rural
electrification and to the increase in irrigation from boreholes.
Tables 2 and 3 are based on changes in cropping patterns in two of the 1972 studyvillages which have been revisited, Chirchita and Sabdalpur. It has not been possible
to include comparable data from the third village, Kurwal Banaras because some of
these were found to be missing on our return. However, significant changes evident
in the tables for Chirchita and Sabdalpur are that in the rabi wheat production
jumped between the mid 1960s and 1972, the time of the village studies. In Chirchita
wheat increased from 20 to 72 per cent over the same period; in Sabdalpur
comparable change was from 45 to 92 per cent, and in Kurwal Banaras, the area
under wheat increased from 28 per cent to just over 75 per cent (Baker, 1975).
Although there were no official statistics to show which varieties of wheat were
grown, it was shown by Baker that the increased area under wheat was entirely
devoted to HYVs and that this corresponded with a decline in deshi (traditional
variety) cultivation. By 1972 only 16 per cent of the sample area of the study villages
was sown with deshi and after 1982 deshi wheat was no longer grown in the District
(personal communication, R. B. Yadav, 2001).
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Post-2000, fieldwork confirmed that wheat still dominated the rabi in the study
villages. However, discussions in each of the villages as to whether deshi(indigenous)
wheat was grown at all provoked unexpected responses. In Kurwal Banaras farmersasserted that all varieties grown were deshi as they were all produced in India. When
asked whether anyone grew ancient varieties which predated HYVs, the answer was
firmly no, in all the villages visited. These included former study villages and others
visited as a control, to confirm in the minds of the authors that the former study
villages were not significantly different for any reason. Some farmers remembered
that deshi varieties had had an excellent flavour in comparison with the HYVs when
they were first introduced, but the number of varieties currently in use gave farmers
such a choice of characteristics that the deshivarieties to which we were referring had
virtually been forgotten. Breeding programmes over the past 30 years have succeededin widening the genetic base of the HYVs (Kerr and Kolavalli, 1999) and have
produced a diverse array of varieties. From these, farmers now make their selection
according to a whole range of criteria which include: yield capacity; length of
maturation period; marketability; straw yield (related to length of stalk and of
importance for fodder); resistance to pests and disease, and flavour. With such
indigenous developments in crop breeding, perhaps these ought to be referred to as
modern varieties, MVs, rather than HYVs.
In Chirchita the village pradhan (leader) confirmed that 95 per cent of the area
currently sown in the rabi was under wheat and all of it HYVs. The picture was
similar in Sabdalpur in that the area under wheat had increased since 1972, but
informants in PRA discussion groups were keen to demonstrate that there was
considerable variation between the cropping strategies of large, medium and small
farmers. The definition of these was provided by farmers in both Sabdalpur and
Chirchita and was as follows: small farmers cultivated less than three acres (1.22 ha);
Table 2. Changes in cropping patterns in Chirchita village
196566* 197172* 2003**
Per cent area sown
Main Rabi cropsWheat 20 72 95Wheat another crop 33 1 Barley 22 17 Pulses 14 7 Other crops 11 3 Berseem (fodder) 5Total 100 100 100
Main Kharif cropsRice 12 39 50Maize 25 17 25
Millets (mainly jowar) 14 14 25Lentils 6 5 Sugarcane 42 25 51Total 100 100 100
Sources: *Derived from Baker (1975), Figures 5.5 and 5.6; **Baker and Jewitt fieldwork (2001,2003).
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medium farmers 310 acres (1.224.01 ha) and larger farmers, 1018 acres (4.01
7.35 ha). 18 acres (7.35 ha) was the ceiling imposed by the state for irrigated land,
but there were indications that some of the largest farmers were cultivating areasfar in excess of this. In Sabdalpur large and medium farmers now sowed less than
half their land with wheat, investing more heavily in sugarcane, a major cash crop
(Table 3). For both large and medium farmers a combination of wheat and
sugarcane occupied two-thirds to some 90 per cent of the land they cultivated during
the rabi. By contrast, small farmers sowed all their land with wheat, most of which
was consumed. Cash income for small farmers was largely obtained from selling
their labour rather than their crops. A notable change evident in the tables is the
decline in intercropped wheat, in pulses, and in the range of rabi crops. In none of
the three villages was the crop diversity as great, nor was the spread of crops as even
as it had been in 196566. Thus the advent of HYVs of wheat to the study villages
suggest a contraction in the range of crops cultivated, and from the data collected in
Sabdalpur, it was evident that small farmers had a narrower cropping base than their
larger counterparts. This is of particular significance as the majority of farmers have
holdings of three acres and below.
Table 3. Changes in cropping patterns of farmers with large, medium and smallholdings inSabdalpur village
196566* 197172*200103**
Large200103**
Medium
200103**Small (area
farmed)
Per cent Area sown
Main rabi cropsSugarcane 55 20 Wheat 45 92 38 40 100Wheat another
crop8 4 Wheat in scane
ratoon 5Barley 10 4Berseem (fodder) 5 Potatoes
and others
2
Oil seed mustard
20
Pulses 26 (masoor) 20 Other 11 Total 100 100 100 100 100
Main kharif cropsSugarcane 47 35 60 55 Rice 3 4 35 40 100Millet (jowar
for fodder)18 21 5 2
Maize 25 35 3 Pulses 6 3 Other 1 2 Total 100 100 100 100 100
Sources: *Baker (1975); **Baker and Jewitt fieldwork (2001, 2003).
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The kharif also reflects changes in both villages (Tables 2 and 3). Rice has
increased in importance in each village and is sown to about half the cultivated area
in Chirchita. If aggregated, the Sabdalpur statistics are similar, but broken down
they reveal that larger farmers sow 35 per cent of their kharif fields to rice, medium
farmers, 40 per cent, and small farmers, 100 per cent. Changes in the area sown with
rice reflect several factors: first, the increased capacity for irrigation in both villages.
This is also true of Kurwal Banaras. The second factor which is not entirely visible
from the data is the relative importance of rice and maize. According to the farmers
the dominance of rice is relatively recent, and stems from the release of Pusa
Basmati. First released by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) in
1989, Pusa Basmati 1 is a conventional pure line variety developed from hybridi-
sation and it was this strain that farmers were growing. Pusa Basmati 1 has now been
superseded by Pusa Rice Hybrid-10 (RH-10) which has the capacity to yield up to
seven tonnes of paddy per hectare, well in excess of the 44.5 tonne per ha capability
of Pusa 1 (The Hindu Business Line, 2001). The potential for yields to increase furtherthus exists. Formerly, maize was more important in all six villages visited but global
factors in the form of increasing international demand for Basmati-type rice, coupled
with newly developed varieties has seen production soar. It is more profitable to
grow rice these days than maize.
The relative importance of sugarcane and rice to the large and small farmers of
Sabdalpur is also worth mentioning (Table 3). The larger farmers sow a higher
proportion of their fields to sugarcane than to rice, though the absolute area under
rice is usually greater than that sown by small farmers. However, small farmers grew
virtually no cane at all post 2000, rice being sold and used for subsistence purposes.In Chirchita the picture was slightly different (Table 2). Here very few people at all
grew sugarcane, the reason being that the cane factory took up to a year to pay for
the harvest, so farmers preferred to grow and sell rice. The entire village had stopped
growing cane in 1984. However, news that the cane factory was allegedly settling
accounts more speedily these days had prompted a few farmers to experiment with
sugarcane once more. Millet, or jowar is grown for animal feed, and here again, it
was clear from the Sabdalpur data that larger, rather than smaller farmers were
growing fodder crops. Overall, the diversity of crops grown in the kharifstill exceeds
that in the rabi, but diversity is lower than it was 30 years ago. More land is nowsown to fewer crop types in both rabiand kharif. Farmers in all villages lamented the
reduction in production of pulses, and particularly gram. Land formerly sown with
pulses was now cultivated with either wheat, rice, maize or sugarcane and people
noted a deterioration in the quality of their diet, and of their physical strength, with
the loss of peas, beans and gram. Only a very small proportion of the cultivated area
was now sown to these.
V. Evaluating the Impact of 30 Years of Green Revolution Technology
The 1972 study showed that the adoption and successful management of HYVs,
particularly wheat, was very closely linked to caste and class (Baker, 1975). This bore
some similarities to the work of Harriss (1982), who explained the structuring of
society along caste lines in North Arcot. Not all farmers in Bakers study area were
Hindu, some were Muslim and so the term class or social status is appropriate for
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non-Hindus. The fieldwork from 1972 concluded that the earliest adopters were the
highest caste/class, most influential farmers, that it was they who had the best access
to resources such as money, seed of good quality, fertiliser and irrigation water, and
it was they who generally had access to the largest areas of farm land. While all
castes did adopt the HYVs, nevertheless, it was access to resources which was critical
in determining which were the lead groups. In Sabdalpur, Rajputs and Muslims were
the first to adopt. This is one of the few villages where, in 1972, there were Muslims
of high social status, most of whom were large land holders. Poorer Muslim-Rajputs
or Mewati Muslims1 (Ahmad, 2004) in Sabdalpur, and lower caste Hindus had also
adopted HYVs of wheat, though slightly later, only a year or so after the largest,
richest farmers. However, the area sown to HYVs by those slower to adopt was
small, inevitably constrained by the size of their holdings. In Kurwal Banaras the
pattern is similar. Rajputs were the innovators in the 1960s and well behind these
were the Mewati Muslims and Chamars. The picture was similar in all the study
villages (Baker, 1975).Although the statistics from different years cited in Tables 2 and 3 are not directly
comparable, they highlight that HYVs are even more important in the study villages,
particularly in the kharif, than they were in 1972. Following the virtual completion of
rural electrification in the District there has been a vast increase in the number of
electric tube wells and hence in the irrigated area of HYVs in both the rabi and
kharif. The message given clearly by all to whom we spoke was that with the increase
in food production, no one went to bed hungry any more, not even the poor, and
that GR technology was the source of this security.
The doubling and trebling of HYV yields compared with those of traditional deshivarieties were the main reasons for the adoption of HYVs of wheat in the 1960s and
1970s (Baker, 1975). Farmers spoke of wheat yields having increased steadily for
around 15 years after the adoption of HYVs, but since the 1980s there was
agreement within the discussion groups, and deep concern, that there had been no
real improvement in yields. These findings are confirmed in All-India statistics which
have shown an increase in wheat yields from around 1100 kg per hectare in 196768,
to 2,4002,500 kg per ha in the 1990s when the increase levelled off (Kapila and
Kapila, 2002). Furthermore, where farmers were not able to obtain good seed, yields
had declined, in some cases by as much as 10 per cent. Comparing responsesobtained post 2000 with those from 1972 (Table 4), it would seem that there has been
a significant increase in yield over the past 30 years for farmers large and small. In
1972, the most progressive farmers, the top 15 per cent, harvested over 4,000 kg per
hectare, whereas now the most progressive achieve yields nearer 5,000 kg per
hectare. Average yields had also risen from around 3,400 to 4,000 kg per ha and even
the lowest yields, at around 2,000 kg per hectare were now double what they were
30 years ago and in line with average yields of 3,600 kg per hectare for the state
(Jagran Research Centre, 2002).
Yields may have increased significantly and food shortage is not the worry it was
some 40 years ago, but as the GR was introduced into a situation of significant
socioeconomic inequalities, its benefits have not been equally distributed. This was
true 30 years ago (Baker, 1975) and it was our aim to see who were the main
beneficiaries of the technology and who were not. As a consequence, the field work
focused on three groups of people: first, farmers with large and medium sized
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holdings, over three acres; second, small farmers who cultivated less than threeacres; third, landless people, both men and women. Although the 1972 study in
Bulandshahr villages showed that higher caste, richer farmers had better access to
resources and were more successful in cultivation of GR crops, it did not find that
anyone in the study area had been disadvantaged by GR technology (Baker, 1975).
Our aim was therefore to discover who were large and who were small farmers. Were
these the same castes/classes as farmers 30 years ago, or had they changed? And as
the success of GR crops is much influenced by access to resources, we then focused
on access to two principal inputs, that of irrigation water and inorganic fertiliser for
farmers cultivating large and small plots of land.
VI. Large and Small Farmers Access to Resources
Holding Size and its Relationship with Caste, Class and Power
If we begin by looking at access to land it is clear that the distribution of land is now
more positively skewed than it was in 1972. In Sabdalpur, average plot sizes were
threefour acres in 2001, approximately half the size of 30 years ago when the
average size of holdings of the sample group of farmers was 8.74 acres (3.54 ha)(Baker, 1975). A similar picture of declining holding size was found at Kurwal
Banaras, Chola, Nausana, Nai Basti, and is evident at national level. According to
the National Sample Survey (cited in Vyas, 2002) over 60 per cent of Indias farmers
were classified as marginal in 199293, and were cultivating 0.012.49 acres. The field
data revealed a similar picture. In all the villages visited over half the holdings were
classified by the farmers as small, being less than three acres. In Sabdalpur and
Kurwal Banaras the majority of households cultivated between 1.0 and 1.5 acres.
This was also the case in Chirchita where PRA with a group of farmers involving the
pradhan provided more detailed information regarding changes in holding size and
the number of families involved in cultivation (Table 5).
While it is almost certainly correct that holding size is now more positively skewed
than it was 30 years ago, there is also evidence in certain villages, particularly
where descendants of former zamindars are to be found, that some of the larger
farmers had ways and means of avoiding the constraints of the land ceiling. Dreze
Table 4. Comparing wheat and rice yields in 1972 and post-2000
1972 200103
(kg/ha)
Wheat yields Progressive/large farmers 4,0005,000 5,0006,000Average yields 3,000 4,000Lowest yields 1,000 2,000
Rice yields Progressive/large farmers 3,400 5,000(with soil improvement)
Average yields 3,200 3,0003,800
Sources: 1972 data derived from Baker (1975); 200103 data based on fieldwork by Baker andJewitt (2001, 2003).
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and Gazdar (1996) assert that after Independence the UP government made
inadequate attempts to put land ceilings into effect, and that as a consequence, therewere more loopholes in the law in UP than in other states. These loopholes have
enabled former landlords to retain holdings of a significant size, though fieldwork
suggested that the prices paid in social favours to their village communities were
considerable, in order that the true size of their land holdings remained undetected
by the authorities.
Returning to the Green Revolution, predictions in the 1970s that the rich would
continue to get richer by buying up land from the poor, who could not afford
essential inputs for their HYVs on a sustained basis, has not happened in UP, due
largely to the 18 acre (7.35 ha) land ceiling established in 1996. At this time, farmerswith more than 18 acres were obliged to surrender any excess, and a few farmers in
the villages lost land through this scheme. Land which had been surrendered,
together with all land designated as spare in the villages was distributed to the
Scheduled Castes and disadvantaged people in keeping with the Indian Constitu-
tions commitment to social and economic justice (Corbridge and Harriss, 2000). As
a result, the numbers of different caste groups/classes who owned land had increased,
and most of these were from among the poorest Hindus and Muslims. Table 6 shows
the proportions of the major caste/class groups in Chirchita and Sabdalpur in 1972
and in 2003. The decline in the number of Rajputs and Jats is evident, as is theincreasing proportion of lower castes and/or Muslims.
Patterns of land ownership have changed significantly since the 1972 study. At this
time power in the study villages lay very clearly with Brahmins and Rajputs, higher
caste Hindu farmers, and in some villages, with wealthier Muslims. These powerful
farmers also had the largest land holdings. The fieldwork revealed that over the past
30 years many of the dominant Hindus, particularly the Rajputs and Jats had sold
their land after profiting from the GR and moved to Bulandshahr or other urban
areas. According to Jeffrey (2002: 213) working in nearby Meerut, fragmentation
encouraged the Jats to seek off-farm income, especially salaried employment in the
public sector. In the study villages former Rajput and Jat land had been acquired by
Muslims and by the lower and Scheduled Castes such as the Jatavs and Balmiki or
Chamars who are now numerically dominant among the Hindu farmers in
Sabdalpur, Chirchita and Kurwal Banaras. The fieldwork thus confirmed that there
had been no increased concentration of land in the hands of the richest, nor that
Table 5. Changes in number of families and holding size in Chirchita, 19722003
Holding size(acres)
1972No. of
families1972
(% total)
2003No. of
families2003
(% total)
Total 125 100 550 100Landless 15 12 50 951 acre 36 29 150 912.5 37 29 320 582.65.0 12 10 28 545.0 acres 25/26 20 2 51
Source: Baker and Jewitt fieldwork (2003).
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small landholders had suffered significant losses of land in any of the six villagesvisited. This is echoed by Hazell and Ramasamy (1991) and by Harriss (1991) in
North Arcot, South India. In some cases in the study villages small parcels of land
had been acquired by the poorer members of society through purchase; through
government schemes which allocate land to the poorest and most disadvantaged, and
through a combination of these. Our findings thus contrast with those of Mukherjee
(2002) who casts doubt on the extent to which the poorest can and do acquire land.
Whether these smallest landholders are benefiting from land ownership is debatable.
Ray (2002) argues that agrarian reorganisation has not significantly improved the
socioeconomic conditions of the working farmer in India but in spite of this everyone
wished to be a landowner and derived confidence and pride from doing so. The
relative position of large and small landholders and landless people is considered
below.
Post-2000, the number of landholders in the study villages had increased. 50 per
cent of farming families in Sabdalpur are Muslim, and 50 per cent are Hindu, while
Table 6. Changes in the proportion of different Hindu caste groups and Muslims in Sabdalpurand Chirchita villages over 30 years
Caste
SABDALPUR1972: based
on recall
by localfarmers atthat time
(%)
SABDALPUR
2001: basedon PRA
discussions(%)
CHIRCHITA1972: based
on recall bylocal farmersat that time
(%)
CHIRCHITA
2003: basedon PRA
discussions(%)
Brahmin 5 51Rajput 50 5 (sold land and
migrated tourban areas)
Jat 1520 10 (soldland and
migrated tourban areas)
Harijan/SC 45 30 14Including: (details of all SCs
not provided)Kore (10)Gosai (7)Jatav (20) (25) (11)Dhobi (1) (1.5) (1.5)Balmiki/
Chamars
(sweepers)
(3) (3.5) (1.5)
*Mewati-Muslims/Muslim-Rajputs
51 5
Muslims 30 50 50 70
Source: Baker and Jewitt fieldwork (2003).Note: *See Endnote 1 regarding Mewati-Muslims/Muslim-Rajputs.
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in Chirchita 75 per cent are Muslim, including Mewati Muslims, and 25 per cent are
Hindu (Table 6). This represents a significant change from 1972. The most influential
members of both villages were still the wealthy Muslims and the few remaining
Brahmin, Rajput and Jat families, and observation confirmed their dominant
position. However, it was emphasised in both Sabdalpur and Chirchita that although
Muslims were numerous, they did not necessarily command the greatest proportion
of resources. Poorer Muslims (and poorer Hindus) rarely practised birth control and
as a result their numbers were increasing rapidly, their holdings, frequently less than
one acre were too small to support large families, and large families exacerbated land
fragmentation. This was confirmed through participatory discussions with both rich
and poor, although concern amongst wealthy villagers seemed to be rooted primarily
in resentment over the recent redistribution of small land parcels from rich to poor
households. Survival for the poorest Muslim families and for their Hindu
counterparts, now depends on supplementing subsistence production with earnings
from off-farm and non-farm employment by as many family members as possible.The proportion of landless was estimated at 30 to 40 per cent in each of the villages
and although the Pradhans confirmed that the proportion of SCs (Hindus) among
the landless had declined relative to Muslims, (due to preferences for large families
amongst the latter), in absolute terms the numbers of both these groups had
increased significantly. It is worth mentioning that the proportion of SCs in the
study villages was far higher than the proportion for India as a whole. Having
shown that there are many more small farmers in the villages visited than medium
and large farmers, we now examine resource accessibility by farmers with large and
smallholdings.
Availability of and Access to Irrigation Water
An adequate supply of water is arguably the most critical of all inputs for HYVs and
in the early days of GR technology, access to irrigation water was the principal
constraint on the adoption of HYVs. However, availability of irrigation water has
improved substantially since 1972 with the increased number of tube wells and some
expansion of the canal system. Increasing pressure from the farmers lobby has
contributed to this (Dreze and Gazdar, 1996; Corbridge and Harriss, 2000). It isdifficult to demonstrate from official statistics the extent of this change over the past
30 years as the District boundary has changed. Part of the former Bulandshahr
District has been lost to the newly formed Gautam Bodh Nagar District. Albeit not
directly comparable, the statistics show that tube wells in the District now irrigate
around a quarter of a million hectares (Jagran Research Centre, 2002), compared
with about 150,000 hectares in a larger district area in 1971 (Bulletin of Agricultural
Statistics for UP, cited in Baker, 1975). Thus the increased capacity for irrigation
apparent in the study villages is also confirmed at district and state level, and reflects
heavy investment in increasing irrigation capacity, and particularly the utilisation of
groundwater (Vaidyanathan, 1994).
While the availability of irrigation water might have increased, the benefits are far
from evenly spread and, usually, irrigation water is more expensive for the poor than
for the rich. Tube well water is more expensive than canal water in spite of the
subsidy on electricity (Gulati and Sharma, 2002) and this is a major burden for
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smaller farmers, especially where their land is distant from canals and where they
have no option but to depend on tube well water for irrigation of their HVYs. The
government does offer some help with the cost of tube well installation but if the
initial subsidised tube well does not function properly for any reason, for example
the bore has not been appropriately positioned, or the pump set has failed, the
farmers are given no further help (personal communication, village Pradhans).
Farmers who, for whatever reason, had access to neither canal water, nor owned a
pump set, but had to depend on tube wells owned by other farmers were invariably
the smallest, poorest farmers. Most of these applied less than optimal quantities of
irrigation water. It was no surprise that they harvested lower yields than those who
had access to their own pump sets and tube wells, or to canal water. Table 7 shows
the comparative cost of water for those who had access to canals or owned their own
tube wells, and those who did not. This was based on participatory discussions in
Sabdalpur, Chirchita and Nai Basti, and the data speak for themselves.
Access to and Use of Fertiliser
In 1972, fertiliser and irrigation water were both in limited supply. Soil samples
collected from the fields of farmers in the 1972 study were tested for their soil organic
carbon content in order to assess the quantity of urea, calcium ammonium nitrate
(CAN) or other fertilisers which should have been applied to the soil. At that time
farmers did have the opportunity to send soil samples to the Indian Agricultural
Research Institute (IARI) in Delhi, but few did so. The results collected by Baker
from the study farmers fields showed that the soil was receiving, on average, 169 kgof urea/ha, far more than was recommended by the Government Package of
Practices for wheat cultivation, but far less than local soil conditions warranted,
Table 7. Comparison of cost of irrigation from canal and from tube well in study villages
Irrigation by canalCost irrigations (any number) dependent on crop Rs 175350/acre(Approx. cost of irrigating sugarcane and rice) (Rs 350/acre)
(Approx. cost of irrigating jowar, pigeon pea and other pulses) (Rs 175/acre)
Irrigation by tube well. For farmers owning a pump set:Cost of each irrigation Rs 125/acreCost of six irrigations Rs 750/acre
. For farmers not owning a pump set (usually smaller/poorer):Cost of purchasing each irrigation Rs 200/acreCost of six irrigations Rs 1200/acre
. Therefore, extra paid by smaller/poorer farmers:Per irrigation Rs 75/acre
Per six irrigation Rs 450/acre
Relative cost of irrigating from tube well rather than canal (approx.)For larger farmers owning pump sets 34 times costlierFor smaller/poorer farmers not owning pump sets 46 times costlier
Source: Baker and Jewitt fieldwork (2001, 2003).
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according to the IARI. Of 196 farmers involved in the sample in 1972, only 28 per
cent used adequate fertiliser, according to the prescriptions of the IARI, and these
were higher caste farmers with larger farms (Baker, 1975).
There are similarities with the situation today. Sabdalpur farmers with large and
medium sized holdings, (over three acres) were applying urea at a rate of 100
125 kg/acre (approx. 250 kg/ha to 310 kg/ha), well above the recommended dose of
84 kg/acre (210 kg/ha). By comparison, small farmers with less than three acres of
land, and many with less than one acre, mostly obtained fertiliser from their richer
neighbours, usually in exchange for work, rather than from a source which
guaranteed good quality of fertiliser. As a consequence, these small farmers had little
choice but to accept whatever fertiliser was given to them by larger farmers. Most
used only one type of fertiliser, NNP, regardless of whether or not it was appropriate
for their soil. These farmers were applying only 7580 per cent of the quantity of
NNP recommended by the current Government Package of Practices (personal
communication, R. B. Yadav, 2001), and this almost certainly contributed to therelatively low yields they harvested in comparison with the larger farmers. These
were the same farmers who were unable to apply sufficient irrigation water to their
crops.
The use of excessive quantities of fertiliser by the larger and medium sized farmers
signals one of the major problems currently facing agriculture in the area, and that is
static and declining yields. Two of many possible explanations for this are first, that
soils may be becoming increasingly sodic, a condition which results in salt deposition
at or near the surface as a result of high levels of moisture in the soil. This frequently
occurs in canal irrigated areas, and particularly near the canals where seepage maybe a problem. There is currently an extensive World Bank project in Uttar Pradesh
involved in the improvement of sodic soils (World Bank Group, 2004), as it is usually
these reclaimed soils which are distributed to new land owners who are
predominantly among the lowest castes/classes. The authors experiences of such
sodic soils suggested that these were not a major problem in the study villages. If
anything, they are less of a problem now than in 1972 due to the development of a
range of soil improvement techniques.
A second, and more likely explanation for declining crop yields in the face of
increasing inputs of inorganic fertiliser is the low level of soil micronutrients, whichin turn may be related to low levels of soil organic matter (Gaur et al., 1984;
Nambiar, 1994, Ghildyal et al., 2002). Farmers were quick to identify the inadequacy
of soil organic matter as a cause of stagnant yields, but measurements taken in these
villages in 1972, compared with recent results of soil analyses conducted by the
Agricultural Development Office in Bulandshahr reveal that the organic fraction
which was approximately 0.7 per cent in 1972, remains much the same. However,
increasing the organic input into the soil could well have positive effects on yield by
increasing the micronutrient status and improving the soil structure. For one or two
large farmers who invested in compost production, wheat yields were over 5,000 kg
per ha, compared with the more usual 34,000 kg per ha or less (Table 4). Resolving
the stagnation in crop yields in the face of a rapidly growing population thus
represents a major challenge to farmers in the doab and in much of India in the
future. There is scope for planting green manures and also for applying animal dung
to the fields but at present, during the dry months virtually all dung produced in the
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villages is mixed with chaff by women, made into dung cakes, dried, and used as fuel.
Any dung cakes surplus to household requirements are sold. This is an important
source of income for many women and especially for those from families with small
plots or of landless families. There is understandable reluctance to lose a viable
source of income although the use of dung on the fields could lead to higher crop
yields, income and sustainability of agriculture. The likelihood of food shortage is
currently viewed as little more than a small, dark cloud on the horizon, but if yields
continue to deteriorate, then pressure to divert organic matter to the soil will almost
certainly increase to remedy the situation.
The potential of organic manures is also important for another reason: fertiliser
has been heavily subsidised in India, and despite attempts by new farmers
movements to prevent the reduction of subsidies, dating back to the late 1970s
and 1980s, liberalisation will require existing subsidies to be phased out. Almost
certainly, the cost of fertiliser to the farmer will increase, and usage could fall. But
this need not spell disaster. A reduction in the use of inorganic fertiliser, if coupledwith organic manure could, in theory, increase crop yields as the organic inputs
could remedy what are believed to be a decline in soil micronutrients. The benefits of
organic manures combined with limited quantities of inorganic fertiliser have been
demonstrated in East Asia, and Taiwanese technical aid missions are currently
promoting such methods in Africa (Baker and Edmonds, 2004).
From the use of two key inputs of water and inorganic fertiliser, it is evident that
small farmers are at a disadvantage in the production of HYVs compared with their
larger counterparts. This difference was also evident with regard to other variables:
most small farmers were unable to afford seed of good quality and depended onlarger farmers for their supplies. This they often paid for with their labour and had
little control over the quality of seed they received, or the price they paid for it in
terms of their time. Furthermore, rarely were these the newest and most high yielding
varieties. Usually, small farmers were not perceived as credit worthy by banks, so
had to pay high levels of interest to richer neighbours in the village in order to
borrow money. Again, the means of repaying debts was through their labour, which
frequently left them short of time on their own fields. For these and many other
reasons, the gap between large and small farmers had widened over the past 30 years,
though as we were frequently reminded, no one in the villages went hungry anymore.
VII. Investigating the Gap between Large and Small Farmers Further
Population growth, not GR technology, emerged as the main factor explaining the
widening income gap between the larger, richer farmers; smaller, poorer farmers, and
the landless, though GR technology and particularly access to HYVs was the reason
for the survival of those with the smallest plots.
Participatory discussions with farmers with larger and smaller plots of land, and
with landless people, resulted in Figure 2 which was drawn in the sand by one group
of participants in Sabdalpur, and which evaluated changes in the proportion of
village wealth owned by each group over the past 30 years. This proved to be a real
example of local people taking over the stick with conviction (Chambers, 1994).
The substance of the diagram was checked with several other groups and Figure 2
35 Years of Green Revolution Technology in India 331
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confirmed our expectations that the proportion of wealth controlled by medium and
larger farmers, cultivating over three acres of land, had increased relative to others,
confirming the views of Byres (1981). In 1972 this group owned an estimated 4550
per cent of village wealth, compared with 75 per cent in 2001. Small farmers, those
with holdings of less than three acres owned some 40 per cent of village wealth in
1972 but only about 20 per cent now. The fortunes of small farmers contrasted
notably with the landless. They were still the poorest as a group but while they
owned virtually nothing in 1972, allegedly, they now possessed 1015 per cent of the
wealth of the village. While the position of the landless may look remarkably healthy
from Figure 2, it must be stressed that these benefits have been experienced by only a
small proportion of a growing number of landless people. Most continue their
existence in poverty.
Considerable effort was made during the fieldwork to confirm the information in
this diagram and we were able to do this at Chirchita in 2003 where farmers
produced a diagram which was remarkably similar. And yet, there was conflictinginformation: everyone wanted land, even a tiny farm, despite the alleged declining
Figure 2. Estimated changes in wealth of large and medium farmers, small farmers andlandless people. Source: Field work by the authors, 2001
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financial position of the smallest farmers. It is our intention to pursue this question
further in future fieldwork.
VIII. Green Revolution Technology and the Landless
Informal discussions were held with members of the Scheduled Castes (SCs), and
also with landless families in all three villages. It was difficult to get close to the
poorest, but we were particularly successful in conducting informal discussions
and PRA with both men and women from the Balmiki in Chirchita. The Balmiki
are a sweeper caste and are socially one of the lowest groups among the SCs.
Initially, some of the participants were reluctant to talk to us but they became
more relaxed with time. The men were much more prepared to talk than the
women who were shy and inhibited at first, but even their confidence grew as
they became involved in PRA sessions. Were it not for the persistence of our
Indian agronomist partner, Dr R. B. Yadav, this element of the study might havebeen forsaken.
The quality of life for the Balmiki is clearly poorer than that of other groups in the
village, including other SC groups. They were shabbier in appearance, their clothing
was poor; the children looked dirty, unkempt, and frequently wore the minimum of
clothing; eye complaints and skin sores were more in evidence than elsewhere in the
village and the general appearance of this group was reminiscent of village people 30
years ago. Most lived in katcha houses at present; few had their own hand pump for
water and most used the communal government hand pump near their houses. But
improvements are taking place: being an Ambedkar village pukka and semi-pukkahouses are now being built for the SCs; mud paths to their houses are being paved
with brick; the communal hand pump has replaced an open well quite recently, and
rudimentary sanitation is being installed. In December 2003, 40 per cent of the work
for the Ambedkar project has been completed in Chirchita and further fieldwork a
year later confirmed that progress was being made. But this is not to say that the
environment of the Scheduled Castes was being raised to the same standards as
higher caste people in the village. A marked difference still existed, but advances were
being made.
With regard to material possessions among the group of around 25 Balmiki whomwe met in Chirchita there was one television, four radios, everyone who worked in
Bulandshahr owned a bicycle, and all families kept poultry and goats as most had
little space for larger animals. None of the households possessed a sewing machine;
none of the women could knit, sew or crochet, and no one had gas on which to cook.
None of the Balmiki to whom we spoke, either men or women, had received formal
education. Opportunities were available for the education of SC children, and for
those parents who registered their children in full time education they were eligible
for a subsidy of Rs 340 for each child placed in school, and a supplement of 34 kg of
grain (personal communication, Chirchita pradhan, 2003). In spite of this, several
Balmiki women chose not to send their children to school. Their relative material
poverty in the village was glaringly apparent.
Regardless of their poverty, all members of the Scheduled Castes to whom we
spoke, including the Balmiki were emphatic that GR technology had benefited
everyone, even the SCs. Increased agricultural production as a result of the HYVs
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had been followed by growth and prosperity, and increasing job opportunities,
particularly in the District capital, Bulandshahr, which was easily accessible from
the study villages. However, most of employment opportunities open to the
Balmiki were for men who pulled cycle rickshaws, or who were sweepers and
labourers in hotels, banks and offices. None of the Balmiki to whom we spoke
were employed as agricultural labour in the village. The benefits to be had from
working in Bulandshahr were clearly greater. Those members of other SCs who
were employed as agricultural labour in the villages confirmed that increased
mechanisation had seen a decline in demand for labour for some tasks such as
ploughing, but an increase in labour demand for tasks such as weeding and seed
sorting. Village wage rates had also increased as a result of rising cost of urban
wage labour and the brunt of this was mostly borne by the largest farmers who
could afford hired labour. That HYVs have probably increased labour demand is
the conclusion reached by Jeffrey (2002) in Meerut, Singh (1993) in North Bihar,
and Harriss (1982, 1991) in North Arcot, though in the case of the latter this islargely because the use of tractors and mechanical threshers had not increased to
the point where labour were displaced, and also because the area under HYVs of
rice had increased.
Opportunities for Balmiki women in Bulandshahr were fewer and most worked
as sweepers and cleaners of latrines in Chirchita and the neighbouring villages.
Traditionally, they would head load excrement from the households to the field
and they continued to do this although the government had banned head-loading
of such material. Where households possessed a rudimentary cesspit or septic
tank their task was made easier, but where there was none, they had noalternative but to head load the excrement. Some were outspoken in their
loathing for this work, wishing that they could escape from rural drudgery as
many of their employers had done. Each Balmiki woman acted as sweeper for
approximately 10 houses. For this the rate of pay was currently 20 kg of wheat
every six months, equivalent to approx. Rs 125 per 180 days, or less than Rs 1
per day. However, their wages had doubled in the past decade as the increased
cost of labour in urban areas had pushed up rural wage rates. They used to be
paid 10 kg of wheat every six months; half the current rate. Among other SC
groups of higher status than the Balmiki, both men and women foundemployment in sugarcane processing factories, in the countless brick making
plants and in the construction industry. Increased non-farm employment
opportunities meant that the poorest could earn enough money, and no one
was starving or short of food. Wage labour, we were told by landless women had
risen from Rs 5 per day in the 1970s to Rs 30 per day in 1990 and Rs 60 per day
now (without accounting for inflation). These were well in advance of wages paid
to Balmiki women who worked as sweepers in the villages. Living costs had risen
as well, but all agreed to having more disposable income.
In addition to paid employment, some landless women reared female buffalo
calves for sale to larger farmers. These they fed on weeds gathered from the fields
and also on the residues from the sugarcane harvest. They were entitled to the latter
as long as they harvested the cane for no cost to the owner. There is an irony about
this as the cane producers are usually the largest, richest farmers. Some landless men
were also involved in selling milk and keeping buffaloes through the batai2 system.
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This was not evident from the Balmikis material possessions but PRA revealed that
much of the increased income was spent not on material goods, but on celebrations
and festivals.
To conclude this section, it would appear that the quality of life for SCs has
improved because of increased employment opportunities in Bulandshahr and its
environs. It is likely that the growth of agricultural productivity resulting from the
introduction of HYVs has contributed to the growth of Bulandshahr, but other
factors may also have played a part, not least the inclusion of the study villages in the
Ambedkar scheme. Whatever the reasons, SCs are apparently better off than they
were; the poorest among them, the Balmiki, claim to have enough not to be hungry,
though their material assets are still meagre in comparison with those of their higher
caste neighbours.
IX. ConclusionsThe fieldwork left the authors in no doubt that the material progress, so plain to
see in the study villages over the past 30 years, had been set in train by the
adoption of GR technology in the mid to late 1960s. HYVs had averted hunger
and famine which was threatening at that time, and subsequent increases in crop
yields, and the increase in the area under these crops had added to livelihood
security. However, the benefits from GR technology were not equally distributed
and the research revealed a widening gap between rich and poor, even though the
bottom line was encouragingly higher than it used to be. In 1972 the rich tended
to cultivate the largest farms and to have access to a wide range of resources.Today, the same is true, but many of the larger, richer farmers, formerly Brahmins,
Rajputs and some Jats, who had benefited from years of GR technology, had sold
their farms, taken their profits and moved away to urban areas. Their land had not
been absorbed by the remaining large farmers on account of the land ceiling.
Instead, it had been acquired by lower caste Hindu farmers and by poorer Muslims
who now dominated farming in terms of numbers in the study villages. As a
consequence there had been a significant change in the social structure of the
villages since 1972.
The landless had also benefited from GR technology: the growth of Bulandshahrhad stimulated the non-farm economy and had seen demand for labour rise. As a
consequence, employment opportunities for both men and women had increased, as
had wage rates. Despite these positive changes many of the poorest castes/classes still
lived in poverty, but it was asserted that no one went to bed hungry any more. The
dozens of people to whom we spoke in the villages were unwavering in their view
that advances in material well being had been driven by little other than the HYVs,
accompanied by their input packages. Nevertheless, as in North Arcot, (Harriss,
1991; Hazell and Ramasamy, 1991) and in Laguna village in the Philippines (Hayami
and Kikuchi, 2000), it was evident that many other factors ranging from local to
global had reinforced the socioeconomic improvements triggered by the introduction
of HYVs over 35 years ago.
Two remaining points must be made: first, these findings are specific to the
three study villages, and we can also claim them for the other villages visited
within the vicinity of Bulandshahr. We cannot extend our conclusions beyond the
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study area, but it must be emphasised that for much of India, GR technology still
remains inaccessible. The second point is that although we have focused on the
benefits of GR technology, the fieldwork revealed an awareness among the farming
communities of problems linked to the sustained use of the technology. These must be
mentioned though space does not allow their discussion in full. We have already
mentioned declining crop yields in the face of increasing inputs of fertiliser, a situation
which could probably be reversed by careful soil management, not least by increasing
the organic fraction (Sanchez, 1976; Beets, 1990). High also on the list of perceived
negative effects of GR technology were increases in formerly unknown ailments such
as stress, strokes, heart disease and mystery illnesses, particularly of children. These
were attributed to the poisoning of water supplies by overuse of chemical fertilisers,
insecticides and pesticides. More research is necessary, however, to establish the
validity of such perceived links.
Overall, the benefits of the Green Revolution were perceived in all six villages
to far outweigh any negative effects. There was, however, an awareness thatcontinued population increase could threaten food security in the future as crop
production had reached a plateau. Biotechnology could provide a solution to
declining agricultural production, but if this approach still raises too many
questions and concerns (Shiva, 2002), then an East Asian alternative which
focuses on the abiotic rather than biotic components of the agroecosystem might
be preferable. This would involve raising the level of soil organic matter, and
hence fertility through heavy composting (Baker and Edmonds, 2004). Although
laborious for the farmer, this would be feasible and could prove ecologically
sound, cheap, and sustainable. It might also extend further the benefits conferredby 35 years of GR technology.
Acknowledegments
The authors wish to acknowledge the significant contribution made to the research
by numerous people, and to thank them for their generous assistance and kindness.
We particularly thank our research assistant, close associate and friend, Dr R. B.
Yadav, Assistant Professor of Agronomy, Sri Vallab Bhai University, Meerut for so
generously sharing his wealth of knowledge about the study area; for his goodhumour and his tireless commitment to the fieldwork. Thanks are also due to the
people in all the villages visited who participated so willingly in the fieldwork. We
would wish to thank especially the people of Sabdalpur, Chirchita and Kurwal
Banaras for their time, their kindness and good humour and the warmth of their
welcome after a gap of some 30 years. We are also indebted to Mr M. P. Singh,
Deputy Director, Extension, The Agricultural School, Bulandshahr, for his generous
help in the early stages of our work.
Notes
1. Muslim Rajputs, otherwise known as Mewati Muslims were descended from Meos, Rajput tribes living
in Mewat, a Gantgetic plateau in northern India. These Meos converted to Islam in twelfth and
thirteenth centuries. At that time they retained many of the socio-religious practices from their Hindu
past. Many kept their old Hindu names, worshipped Hindu deities, celebrated Hindu festivals and
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based birth, marriage and death rituals on Hindu customs. Islamisation of Mewati Muslims was
brought about by the teachings and work of Mawlana Ilyas in the Mewati region in the 1920s (Ahmad,
2004). Some still refer to themselves as Muslim-Rajputs or Mewati-Muslims.
2. Batai system: This is a form of partnership between rich and poor, in buffalo ownership and
maintenance. Buffaloes are extremely valuable while lactating, but once the milk supply dwindles they
can be costly to maintain. At this stage, poorer households owning buffaloes may give their animals
into the care of a wealthier farmer until the animals calve. When a calf is born, the poorer farmer pays a
pre-agreed sum to the richer farmer who has fed the buffalo for several months, and the poorer farmer
takes the adult animal back as it is again lactating. The calf remains with the richer farmer. The system
enables the poor to own productive animals and to shelve most of the cost of maintaining them in that
part of the year when they are not productive.
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