Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
5.1 INTRODUCTION
Before the advent of the Green Revolution in the 1960s, South Asian farmers generally
used to cultivate diverse landraces in cereal crops. This allowed the landraces to coevolve
with nature and acquire specific adaptive traits. The adaptation not only minimized the
risks of crop failures due to aberrant weather but also secured their livelihoods and food
security. During the 1970s, these countries achieved substantial yield increase from
“Green Revolution” technologies, which comprised short-stature photo-insensitive cul-
tivars of wheat (
Triticum aestivum
L.) and rice (
Oryza sativa
L.) with high harvest index,
increased use of fertilizer nutrients, and better irrigation facilities. Genetically homog-
enous early maturing varieties displaced the traditional landraces and helped the farm-
ers achieve crop intensification with available irrigation facilities. Technologies together
with enabling policy support led to the emergence of new cropping systems such as
rice-wheat, even in areas nontraditional to rice and/or wheat. Rice-wheat systems now
cover a whopping 13 million hectares (Mha) in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and
southern China. This cropping system laid the foundation of South Asian food security
(Cassman 1999; Gupta et al. 2003). The development and application of production
technologies related to the rice-wheat cropping system became highly relevant. This
can be judged if one compares the acreage and productivity of wheat in two Punjabs,
i.e., Indian Punjab and Pakistan Punjab (the Punjab territory was partitioned between
India and Pakistan in 1947). Up to 1950, wheat acreages, production, and productivity
in two Punjabs were almost similar. However, wheat production and productivity in
Indian Punjab almost doubled over Pakistan Punjab in the last five decades owing to
apparently better land, water, and crop management practices followed in rice-wheat
cropping systems (Figure 5.1).
Area needed at Pakistan Punjab level of productivity
Current area Indian Punjab
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
Years
FIGURE 5.1
Comparison of wheat productivity in two Punjabs and saving in land use
owing to improved technologies (data beyond 2000 not available). (Personal communication,
Sahid Parvez 2001.)
