Outline the historical context and main features of the first Green Revolution.
Describe the features of the Green Revolution from both positive and negative perspectives.
Indicate the need for post-Green Revolution efforts to achieve agricultural development in regions where the GR did not spread.
11.1 Introduction
Agricultural development and food security have been major concerns in India since its independence.
The First Five Year Plan focused on agricultural development.
During the Second Plan, India faced severe food shortages.
In 1958, India invited a team of experts, led by Dr. S.E. Johnson (US Department of Agriculture), to examine the causes of food grain shortages and suggest solutions.
The team's 1959 report, “India’s Food Problem and Steps to Meet It,” recommended focusing on areas with high agricultural productivity potential.
In the 1960s, two major programs were launched:
Intensive Agriculture Area Programme (IAAP, 1961).
Intensive Agriculture District Programme (IADP, 1964).
These programs invested heavily in irrigation, fertilizer, agricultural R&D, education, and extension services, leading to high growth in productivity and production, known as the Green Revolution (GR).
The GR was focused on agriculturally developed regions, which led to focused regional development.
The Green Revolution transformed India from a food-deficit to a food-sufficient economy by raising agricultural production, productivity, and income.
However, it also created negative effects:
Depletion of groundwater table.
Deterioration in soil quality.
Increased input costs.
Increased credit requirements.
The unit will study the positive and negative impacts of the GR on the Indian economy and the need for a second GR.
11.2 Concept of Green Revolution
The term ‘Green Revolution’ refers to the new agricultural technology developed during the 1950s and 1960s.
Developed by agricultural experts at the International Centre for Maize and Wheat Improvement in Mexico and at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines.
The technology was adopted by most developing countries in Asia and Latin America, improving agricultural productivity and achieving self-sufficiency in food grains.
The technology involved:
Use of high yielding variety (HYV) seeds.
Adoption of modern agricultural inputs, tools, and practices.
Chemical fertilizers.
Pesticides.
Assured and controlled irrigation.
Tractors.
Threshers.
Electric and diesel pumps.
Initially limited to wheat and rice crops but later spread to other crops.
Replaced traditional farm practices based on farmers’ self-owned inputs and resources.
Indigenous seeds.
Farm yard manure.
Manual irrigation.
Use of draught power (animal power).
Indigenous seeds could not withstand high doses of chemical fertilizer, while HYV seeds, with chemical fertilizers and irrigation, yielded higher productivity.
Dr. William Gaud (Administrator of USAID) coined the term ‘Green Revolution’ in 1968.
11.2.1 The Historical Context
The process of the Green Revolution began with an agricultural research program in the early 1950s in Mexico by the Rockefeller Foundation team, including Dr. Norman Borlaug.
Dr. Borlaug researched Mexican wheat and invented high yielding varieties of dwarf wheat in the mid-1950s.
Mexico became self-sufficient in wheat production by the early 1960s and began to export.
In 1962, the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was set up in the Philippines with support from Rockefeller and Ford Foundation to develop new HYV seeds of rice crop.
The new rice varieties increased rice productivity in the Philippines even better than wheat in Mexico.
The rice seed varieties were also highly responsive to the use of chemical fertilizer and irrigation.
These efforts significantly contributed to achieving the Green Revolution in most developing countries, including India.
Dr. Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his contribution to agricultural development and solving the world’s food problem.
India faced severe food shortages during the 1950s and 1960s and had to import food grains.
India adopted the new agricultural strategy to grow more food grains, especially wheat and rice, in selected agriculturally developed regions based on the recommendations of the Ford Foundation team.
In the 1960s, the Ford Foundation initiated the Intensive Agricultural Area Program (IAAP) with better technological inputs to raise agricultural productivity.
The emphasis was on concentrating more on those areas where the potential of agricultural development was high.
Essential inputs and services were provided to the farmers in these selected districts.
The program proved quite effective in raising food grains production in the selected regions.
During 1964-65, the government initiated the Intensive Agriculture District Programme (IADP) in 114 selected districts where the potential of agricultural development was high.
Both the IAAP and the IADP were based on the ‘big push’ theory of economic development.
The two programs became the most important steps towards achieving the Green Revolution in India.
Dr. Norman Borlaug and Dr. M. S. Swaminathan (agricultural scientists) and Shri. C. Subramanian, the then Minister of Agriculture, were key persons in bringing the new agricultural technology to India.
The main objective of the new strategy was to achieve self-sufficiency in food grains by providing access to farmers the necessary inputs and services.
This was done by establishing significant agricultural research, extension and marketing infrastructure under massive public investment in areas of:
Surface and groundwater irrigation.
Manufacturing agricultural equipment and fertilizers.
Establishment of Agricultural Price Commission.
Nationalization of private banks.
Setting up of cooperative credit institutions to provide credit facilities to the farmers.
The advent of tube-well technology also became instrumental in contributing to the raising of agricultural productivity and changing the cropping pattern especially in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh.
The wheat revolution spread over the entire North India and tremendously increased the production and productivity of wheat crop.
Later on, a similar revolution occurred in rice crop.
The Green Revolution technology transformed the Indian economy from a food-deficit status to a food-self-sufficient and even a food-surplus country.
11.2.2 Main Features of Green Revolution
Traditional farm practices relied on indigenous seeds and internal inputs (non-purchased inputs), while the new agricultural technology was mainly based on external inputs (purchased inputs) which required substantial financial resources.
The GR technology came in a package of HYV seeds – irrigation– fertilizers.
Availability of assured and controlled irrigation and use of chemical fertilizers became the two critical factors in raising the productivity of HYV seeds.
GR technology was more suited to the areas that had adequate irrigation facilities as well as proper water irrigation/drainage system.
HYV seeds required high doses of chemical fertilizers which in turn generated weeds, requiring the application of weedicides.
HYV seeds had shorter period of maturity which gave opportunity to farmers to grow more number of crops in a year, thus increasing cropping intensity.
Higher level of productivity and cropping intensity under the GR technology made it a land-saving technology.
Farmers needed to do various farm operations, including crop harvesting and land preparation for the next crop, in time. For this, use of modern farm machines such as tractors, threshers, irrigation pumps, etc were required.
The GR technology helped in attracting more investment in manufacturing of farm machines, irrigation pumps, etc. and also to set up banking and marketing infrastructure facilities in small towns and rural areas.
The GR technology involved heavy infrastructural investment and was more suited to the big farmers who could afford to purchase the farm machines and equipments optimizing their use because of their large farm sizes.
Investment on heavy machinery was necessary for adoption of HYV crops, and more investment on hiring and purchase of other inputs were essential even on small farms.
Small and marginal farmers had limited access to credit.
The HYV-fertilizer-irrigation technology was considered scale-neutral but in practice it was certainly not resource-neutral.
Cost-effective usage of new technology on small and marginal size holdings was necessary through some institution building measures like the formation of group-farming.
The main features of the Green Revolution movement in India:
HYV seeds.
Use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
Application of modern farm machines.
Extensive irrigation facilities.
Multiple cropping.
Improved credit facilities.
Support price policy.
Improved R&D and extension infrastructure.
11.3 Impact of Green Revolution
GR technology in India has made phenomenal impact on agriculture in particular and entire economy in general.
It has made both positive as well as negative impacts.
11.3.1 Positive Impacts
The GR technology helped to:
Raise the production and productivity of crops, especially wheat and rice.
Increase cropping intensity.
Change the cropping pattern from coarse cereals to super cereals and later on to cash crops, including sugarcane and horticultural crops.
Solve the problem of food security.
11.3.1.1 Increase in Production and Productivity of Food Grains
One of the most important impacts of the Green Revolution (GR) was on raising the production and productivity of cereal crops, especially wheat and rice.
The cereal production was increased due to three factors:
Increase in net area under cultivation.
Growing two or more crops in a year on the same piece of land.
Use of HYV seeds.
The GR resulted in a significant increase in the production of food grains from 72.4 million tons in 1965-66 to 131.9 million tons in 1978-79 establishing India as one of the world’s biggest agricultural producers.
Per hectare yield of food grains increased from 6.3 quintal per hectare (Q/ha) in 1965-66 to 10.2 Q/ha in 1978-79.
Percentage of total food grains area under irrigation also increased from 20.9 in 1965-66 to 28.8 in 1978-79.
These productivity increases also enabled India to become an exporter of food grains around that time.
Wheat production increased from 10.4 million tons (MT) in 1965-66 to 35.5 MT in 1978-79 and further to 80.7 MT in 2009-10.
The spectacular increase in production of wheat was mainly due to massive rise in its per hectare yield which went up from 8.3 Q/ha in 1965-66 to 15.7 Q/ha in 1978-79 and further to 28.3 Q/ha in 2009-10.
Area under wheat also grew notably during the green and post-green revolution periods.
Per hectare yield of wheat grew faster than its area, implying that productivity growth in wheat has contributed more to the wheat production than the increase in area under it.
Rice production increased from 30.6 MT in 1965-66 to 53.8 MT in 1978-79 and further to 89.1 MT in 2009-10.
The per hectare yield of rice increased from 8.6 Q/ha in 1965-66 to 10.7 Q/ha in 1978-79 and further to 21.3 Q/ha in 2009-10.
The per hectare yield of rice grew at a rate much slower than that of wheat.
The GR technology had penetrated more in wheat crop than in the rice crop.
The area under rice achieved a relatively slow growth when compared to the area under wheat.
Estimates of growth rate in area, production and yield of two principal cereal crops (wheat and rice) during four periods:
pre-green revolution period (1950-51 to 1964-65).
green revolution period (1967-68 to 1978-79).
post-green revolution period (1979-80 to 1990-91).
post-economic reform period (1991-92 to 2009-10).
In case of wheat, area recorded the highest growth during the green revolution period (3.3 percent), followed by the pre-green revolution period (2.7 percent); the lowest being in the post-green revolution period and post-reform periods (0.6 to 0.7 percent).
Production of wheat recorded the highest growth in the green revolution period (5.9 percent) followed by the pre-green revolution period (4.3 percent).
In terms of per hectare yield of wheat, however, the post-green revolution years had the highest yield (3.6 percent).
The per-hectare yield was the lowest (0.9 percent) in the post-reform years of 1992-2010.
In rice the post-GR years of 1980-91 had witnessed the highest growth (3.7 percent).
For rice there was a steep decline in the per-hectare yield in the post- reform years of 1992-2010 (1.1 percent).
11.3.1.2 Employment Generation
The impact of GR technology on employment generation in agriculture has been contentious.
Critiques argue that increased mechanization of farm practices in the green revolution regions reduced the employment absorption in agriculture.
C. H. Hanumantha Rao observed that GR technology had substantial positive impact on employment generation in agriculture but increased use of farm machines such as tractors contributed to a reduction in the employment generated.
The use of tractor and other modern machines increased the aggregate level of employment by raising cropping intensity, farm productivity and changing cropping pattern.
Farm machines and equipment also helped generate additional employment in the non-farm activities by way of forward and backward linkages.
The use of technology and better inputs have created significant employment opportunities in the non-agricultural sectors of manufacturing as well as service sectors.
Expansion of irrigation has generated more employment as irrigated crops have more agricultural operations as compared to the un-irrigated ones.
The green revolution regions such as Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh experienced one of the major problems of shortage of agricultural labour resulting in the migration of workers from backward and poor agricultural regions to the GR regions for agricultural employment.
The GR technology has created indirect employment opportunities to the agricultural workers of other regions.
11.3.1.3 Flow of Public/Private Investment in Agriculture
The most important factor behind the success of green revolution in India is availability of assured irrigation.
The advent of tube-well technology, especially in the Indo-Gangetic basin, made significant contribution to enhance the per hectare crop yields.
The new agricultural strategy required public investment in agricultural infrastructure, including investment in agricultural research, extension, power, roads, irrigation, etc.
Government of India made huge public investment in agriculture in the regions where the new strategy was adopted.
This investment made favourable impact on accelerating the pace of private investment too in agriculture.
Farmers invested in tube-well, tractor & its accessories, electric and diesel pump sets, land leveling & development, etc.
The share of mechanical and electrical power in India increased substantially from 39.4 percent in 1971-72 to 86.6 percent in 2005-06.
The ratio of human labour in the total power consumption in agriculture declined from 15.1 percent in 1971-72 to 8.6 percent in 1991-92 and further to 5.8 percent in 2005-06.
The share of draught animal power declined sharply from 45.3 percent in 1971-72 to 15.6 percent in 1991-92 and further to 8 percent in 2005-06.
Private investment in agriculture after the green revolution significantly increased following the stimulus provided by increased public investment.
11.3.1.4 Land Saving
Land is a limited resource with competing claims for alternative uses.
Due to fast growth of population, urbanization and industrialization, demand for land for non- agricultural purposes has been continuously increasing.
Release of land for non- agricultural purposes would be a less contentious issue if requirement of land for agricultural purposes is met through raising the productivity of land and other resources.
GR technology is considered land-saving as it significantly increased the per hectare yield of various agricultural crops.
Productivity growth in agriculture has also indirectly saved the forest land as in the absence of increased agricultural output due to GR, more forestland would have been converted into agriculture to meet out the requirement.
The green revolution, has had positive impact on environment by way of saving the forestland.
11.3.1.5 Impact on Rural Non-farm Economy
The green revolution has made significant positive impact on boosting the rural non-farm economy.
It has led to sizeable increases in returns to land thereby raising farmers’ incomes.
Rise in farmers income enhances the demand for locally produced goods and services thereby augmenting the employment and income in the non-farm sectors.
Expansion of demand for farm inputs, repairs & maintenance of farm tools and machines, transportation and marketing services, agro-processing, etc. generates additional income and employment to the rural households engaged in non-agricultural activities.
11.3.2 Negative Impacts
Green revolution in India has also made a number of negative impacts.
GR technology is based on the strategy of “betting on the strong” with its inbuilt feature of unequal access and ‘unbalanced development of regions’, it has created disparities in agricultural development across regions and categories of farms.
There was also a tendency of growing intensively two or even three of the same wheat or rice crops without any rotation and with heavy doses of water, fertilizers and pesticides.
It has left adverse effects on soil fertility and quantity/quality of water.
11.3.2.1 Decline in Soil Fertility
GR technology has caused deterioration in soil fertility.
According to the Working Group Report on ‘Natural Resource Management’ (Government of India, 2007), the estimated loss to the economy on account of soil degradation during 1980s and 1990s ranged from 11 to 26 percent of GDP.
Absence of reliable advice and soil- testing facilities contributes to the indiscriminate and harmful use of chemicals.
Use of Farm Yard Manure and Green Manure has declined due to various reasons like decline in draught animals, change in the cropping pattern from legume crops to rice, wheat, sugarcane and other commercial crops, etc.
Green revolution technology could not promote crop-diversification but rather encouraged the crop-concentration.
A recent Greenpeace India Report on ‘Soils, Subsidies and Survival,’ (2011) observes that “indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers is murdering our soil and threatening our food security. It is time to move away from them and nurture our soil the ecological way”.
11.3.2.2 Loss of Biodiversity
Biodiversity is necessary for sustaining the rural livelihoods and achieving the food security.
The use of HYV seeds displaced indigenous species and agricultural system that had been built up over generations.
This has led to loss of biodiversity and agricultural genetic resources aggravating the genetic vulnerability of many valuable gene pools.
11.3.2.3 Depletion of Groundwater Resources
Development of tube-well technology in 1960s is one of the vital factors in bringing the green revolution in the Indo-Gangetic regions.
The exponential growth of tube-wells in these regions has also been the main reason in the rapid decline of groundwater resources.
Government policies have contributed to rapid depletion of ground water resources.
Agricultural subsidy on critical inputs
Lack of effective regulation on sustainable groundwater usage
11.3.2.4 Impact on Small and Marginal Farmers
Shifting from traditional farming to monoculture had negative effects on small farmers.
Small and marginal farmers had to purchase costly HYV seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides for which they took loans at relatively higher interest rates and consequently came under ‘debt trap’.
Over-exploitation of groundwater by rich farmers rendered the accessibility of water to the small and marginal farmers difficult.
11.3.2.5 Over-capitalization in Agriculture
The traditional farming system was mostly based on the locally available farm inputs and implements.
The new agricultural technology required huge investment in modern farm machines, tractors, pump sets, etc. which in most of the cases remained underutilized due to division of operational holdings.
Division of operational holdings encourages the farmers to purchase more tractors and accessories and irrigation pumps which lead to over-capitalization in agriculture.
In agriculturally developed regions, such as Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh, there is over-capitalization in agriculture.
Chand and Kumar (2004) find an increase in the number of operational holdings as one of the important determinants of private capital formation in agriculture.
The number of operational holdings in India has increased from 97.16 million in 1985- 86 to 115.58 million in 1995-96 and further to 120.28 million in 2000-01.
The availability of institutional credit and subsidy to the farm sector motivates these divided holdings to increase investment in farm machinery.
This type of private investment in agriculture is not desirable, as it increases the unit cost of cultivation, reduces competitiveness of small farmers, and enhances indebtedness among them.
11.3.2.6 Widening Disparities
The GR technology has created disparities across regions, and categories of farms.
The benefits of the new technology was mainly limited to the few crops, such as wheat, rice, sugarcane and few agriculturally developed regions, having adequate irrigation facilities.
Most of the crops and rain-fed agricultural regions did not get sufficient benefits from GR.
In most of the countries, where the new technology was adopted, its benefits accrued to the farmers of already developed regions, and not to the farmers of the poorest and least developed regions.
Conflicting evidence as to whether it has had “spread effect” or, has intensified income differences across regions.
The seed-fertilizer technology was not suited to agriculture of the un-irrigated and rain- fed regions, to a greater extent it contributed to inter-regional income disparities.
The spread of GR to dry regions proved inappropriate and often caused serious distress to farmers who adopted GR in dry regions based on groundwater resources.
GR technology worked effectively on those farms which possessed controlled production environment, such as good quality soils, better irrigation facilities and markets.
Farmers of backward regions could not get much benefit from the new technology; they lost competitiveness and they remained relatively in the disadvantaged position vis-à-vis their counterparts in the developed regions.
C.H. Hanumantha Rao concluded that the technological changes in the Indian agriculture had widened economic disparities between different regions, between big and small farmers and between landholders and land-less workers.
11.3.2.7 Impact on Ecology and Environment
One of the most adverse consequences of the GR technology is in terms of its ecological and environmental impact.
The increased use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides in agriculture has been the main source of decreased land fertility.
It has also polluted the river water resources affecting aquatic life in general and fish production in particular.
The productivity stagnation during the recent decades is also generally attributed to the degradation of soil and water resources induced by the agricultural practices particularly in the rice–wheat and wheat-sugarcane production systems of the north Indian states.
The intensive use of fertilizers, pesticides, and weedicides have not only caused degradation of natural resources but also resulted in stagnant productivity.
11.3.2.8 Energy Problems
Increase in the cost of energy-based agricultural inputs has resulted in an increase in the prices of agricultural products making the GR system economically and ecologically questionable.
The share of mechanical and electrical power consumption in agriculture has significantly increased over the period.
High demand for diesel import has also put more pressure on India’s foreign currency reserves.
11.4 Post-Green Revolution Efforts
The benefits of the first green revolution period (1968-79) were largely confined to a few crops and big farmers of agriculturally developed regions.
A large part of India, especially rain-fed regions of eastern states such as Assam, Bihar and Orissa remained largely untouched by the green revolution technology.
Government of India initiated specific efforts in the agricultural development of those regions and crops which could not get the benefits of the first green revolution.
These efforts centred around:
Policy thrust on agricultural development of eastern states.
Development of rain-fed and un-irrigated agricultural regions to improve people’s livelihood and achieve food security.
Greater involvement of agri-business companies in R&D, storage, marketing and processing of agricultural products with a focus on high value horticulture, floriculture and livestock products through contract farming and other innovative efforts.
The main reason why GR technology benefits could not spread to eastern region was that the installation of private tube-wells did not progress well due to the small size of holdings and lack of financial resources to install tube-wells and buy pump- sets.
Delay in electrification of villages was also one of the factors in the slow growth of private tube-wells.
The groundwater development in the eastern region was lowest among all the regions.
Focused policy support to the farmers of the eastern states to improve their productivity and diversification of various crops, agricultural growth significantly increased in Bihar, Orissa and Assam.
Focus on rain-fed and dry land agricultural regions through government interventions in terms of investment in soil and water conservation and water harvesting related activities contributed to increasing the productivity in these regions.
The policy focus in achieving the agricultural development in these regions was one of a holistic approach for conservation, rejuvenation and management of natural resources for sustaining the livelihoods of people by raising agricultural productivity and income.
Initiatives to attract the corporate investment in agricultural sector was made by many mission mode efforts like National Horticulture Mission, National Oilseed Mission, National Food Security Mission, National Bamboo Mission, National Pulses Mission, etc.
Other efforts made, besides promotion of contract farming, centred around:
Institutional credit to small and marginal farmers for purchasing land to enlarge their size of operational holdings.
Liberalization of land lease market.
Direct marketing of agricultural products reducing the role of intermediaries by amending the APMC Act, etc.
Agricultural growth during the green revolution period was largely driven by the supply side factors, during the post-green revolution period it was driven to a greater extent by the demand side factors.
Agricultural development was more in the direction of diversification towards high value horticulture crops like fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc. besides the development of allied activities like dairy, poultry, and fishery.
Involvement of the agri- business companies, particularly the MNCs in reaping the benefits of genetically modified (GM) seed technology, may create oligopolistic power among these companies which could exploit the farmers in the long run once the intermediaries are eliminated and role of public investment/institutions are reduced.
There is a growing debate on the need for maintaining a balance between the corporate approach and the public investment centred policies.
11.5 From Green Revolution to Gene Revolution
Increase in productivity associated with the GR technology began to taper off during the 1990s.
Bio-technology is envisaged to provide the required potential for raising the agricultural productivity and solving the problem of food security.
The biotech revolution gained momentum in the early 1980s when large corporations began investing huge amounts in R&D for developing transgenic crops.
The use of genetically modified (GM) seeds was recognised to hold the promise of making spectacular increase in the productivity of land and other resources helping the farmer to increase their income from agriculture on the one hand and benefit the consumers by way of providing cheaper and quality food on the other.
Use of bio-technology centric methods was also considered scale- neutral as it focused on seeds and not on chemical fertilizers and costly farm machines.
The GM seeds are considered to be more productive, more pest- resistant and more suitable to all categories of farms and all the agricultural regions.
Adoption of gene technology in Indian agriculture is subject to debate and discussions, as its positive and negative effects on plants, animals and human lives have not yet been fully examined.
Environmental, ecological and health related consequences of GM seed technology are weighed more than its economic benefits.
Prominent issues are the ethical, safety and proprietary issues.
One of the biggest fears of its adoption is the monopoly control of a few multinational bio-seed breeding companies over a basic human need that is food.
The GM seed technology is feared to be more suited to the resource-rich farmers leaving behind the large marginal and small farmers segments especially in the backward agricultural regions from getting its benefits.
The fundamental difference between green revolution and gene revolution may be pointed out as one in which while the former was mostly in the public domain, the latter is feared to keep it largely confined to the private domain.
The present debate is on ushering in a ‘second green revolution’ the broad features of which are spelt out in the National Agricultural Policy Vision Document.
11.6 Let Us Sum Up
The GR technology and the benefits that accrued out of it helped transform the Indian economy from a state of food deficient country to a food surplus one.
The benefits of the GR technology did not reach many regions of the country notably the eastern Indian states because of the fragmented holdings held by large number of small and marginal farmers whose capacity to invest capital, much needed for applying the GR technology, was limited.
The GR-technology was not environmental friendly as it depended heavily on chemical fertilizers and weedicides which rendered the soil and water resources polluted/contaminated.
An alternative to GR technology namely the GM technology became popular for its non-polluting effects around the 1980s.
Both the GR and GM technologies are unsuited to small and marginal farmers who cannot muster the wherewithal required for benefiting from these technologies.
There is a talk on the need for instituting a ‘second green revolution’ suitable for addressing the issue of food security/insecurity from a more inclusive nature.
11.7 Key Words
Green Revolution (GR): Refers to a new agricultural technology developed in Mexico and Philippines in the late 1950s and early 1960s for wheat and rice crops respectively which transformed many food deficient countries of Asia and Latin America to food surplus economies.
High Yielding Variety (HYV) Seeds: These were special seeds which were to be used in the GR technology application areas. Unlike indigenously grown seeds, they could withstand high amount of fertilizers. But for this very reason they were also less environmental friendly as they reduced the fertility of soils.
Genetically Modified (GM) Seeds: This was an alternative which was developed in 1980s. Unlike the HYV seeds, the GM seeds were not heavily dependent on chemical fertilizers. The technology, however, had a proprietary character associated in view of its limited reach due to the involvement of some MNCs/corporate business houses.