The Green Revolution, beginning in the mid-20th century, aimed to combat global hunger by dramatically increasing food production. It introduced high-yielding crop varieties, expanded irrigation, and increased the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. While boosting agricultural output, these advancements led to substantial, often unforeseen, negative consequences for the environment, societies, and human health.
Environmental Consequences
Intensive farming methods contributed to widespread soil degradation. Continuous monocropping and heavy synthetic fertilizer use depleted the soil of nutrients and organic matter. This loss of soil structure made agricultural lands more susceptible to erosion, reducing long-term productivity.
Increased reliance on irrigation strained freshwater resources, depleting underground aquifers. Extensive use of synthetic fertilizers and chemical pesticides also caused widespread water pollution. Agricultural runoff carried these substances into rivers, lakes, and groundwater, contaminating drinking water and harming aquatic ecosystems.
Pesticide application caused a significant reduction in non-crop biodiversity. Beneficial insects, including crucial pollinators, suffered severe population declines due to direct exposure or habitat destruction. This loss disrupted natural ecological balances, sometimes leading to new pest outbreaks that required more chemical intervention.
Socio-Economic Inequality
The Green Revolution disproportionately benefited larger, wealthier farmers. High-yielding seeds, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation systems were expensive, making them inaccessible to small farmers. This disparity widened the gap between affluent landowners and subsistence farmers, exacerbating socio-economic inequalities in rural areas.
Small farmers often took out loans to purchase costly inputs. When harvests failed or market prices dropped, they became trapped in debt, leading to land loss. This displacement contributed to a growing landless labor class and increased rural poverty.
Mechanization impacted rural labor dynamics. Machinery reduced the demand for manual labor in agriculture. This shift resulted in widespread unemployment among farm workers, compelling many to migrate to urban centers, often straining urban infrastructure.
Health and Dietary Impacts
The widespread application of chemical pesticides posed health risks, particularly for farmers and agricultural workers. Chronic exposure was linked to neurological disorders, various cancers, and reproductive issues. Consumers also faced potential exposure through residual chemicals on food products.
Emphasis on a few high-yielding staple crops, like wheat and rice, reduced dietary diversity. Traditional, nutrient-rich crops were often replaced by these new varieties. This shift contributed to “hidden hunger,” where populations consumed enough calories but lacked essential micronutrients, leading to vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
Decline in Crop Diversity
The Green Revolution’s promotion of limited, genetically uniform crop varieties led to a significant decline in genetic diversity. Farmers adopted these new varieties, abandoning thousands of unique local and traditional crop landraces. This resulted in vast monocultures.
Genetic uniformity increased agricultural systems’ vulnerability to pests and diseases. A new pathogen could wipe out entire harvests, threatening food security. This lack of genetic variation also reduced crop resilience to climate change, hindering agricultural adaptation. The focus on modern varieties diminished traditional farming knowledge.