Not many know that India was fighting against insufficient foodgrain production in 1950s. The irrigation dams were being constructed, but the farmers were still following a monocrop policy that was rainfed. The productivity per acre was very low. The threat of famine loomed. We were dependent on US for feeding our people.
We always talk of the right man at the right place. For Indians, that person arrived on the scene by mid 1960s. The farmers did not have a clue as to how to exploit the benefits of better irrigation to improve agricultural production. In their midst walked in Dr.Norman Borlaug, an American, who had done considerable work in the famished Mexico amongst the peasants with considerable success. Was he the messaiah?
One of the problems the wheat farmers of North India was that the plants were long which meant it could not support the weight of the wheat at the head, leading to the plant slanting and finally falling off. The wastage due to this was phenomenal.
Norman did some out of the box thinking. He developed a wheat stain containing an unusual gene, leading to the creation of the 'semi-dwarf' variety of the plant. The shorter, more compact and durable plant was easily able to support the heavier weight of the grains without falling down. This innovative concept led to Indian wheat farmers improving the farm output four times over. The same concept was later extended to the rice farming.
This along with better irrigation, mechanization, modern farming methods heralded the Green Revolution in India. The rest, as they say, is history.
For once the Nobel Peace Prize judges were spot on when they elected him for the prestigious award in 1970.
The Nobel citation was ''More than any other person of this age, he helped provide bread for a hungry world. We have made this choice in the hope that providing bread will also give the world peace.''
Norman was active well into his 90s, training modern day agricultural scientists from the developing world, till his death a day ago.
The Father of Green Revolution is no more, but he leaves a legacy that is hard to beat.
