M.S. Swaminathan

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The World Food Prize 2006 International Symposium
Des Moines 19 October 2006
Looking Back at the Green Revolution
M.S. Swaminathan Chairman, National Commission on
Farmers, Government of India President, Pugwash
Conferences on Science and World Affairs
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Statue of Mahatma Gandhi outside Pietermaritzburg
Railway Station, South Africa where he was thrown
out of a first class compartment This year marks
the centenary of Gandhis non-violent,
non-cooperation movement which inspired among
others Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and
Cory Aquino
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To a people famishing and idle, the only
acceptable form in which God can dare appear is
work and promise of food as wages
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Indias tryst with destiny
Everything else can wait, but not Agriculture


Jawaharlal Nehru, August 14-15, 1947
Agriculture is the Greatest Living, Private
Sector Industry of India providing Livelihood to
over 600 million persons
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August 14-15, 1997 Fiftieth Anniversary of
Indias Independence
The most significant achievements of the first 50
years

• Adherance to a democratic system of governance
  from the village to the national level
• Green Revolution leading to adequate food
  availability (from begging bowl to bread basket)

Shri. K. R. Narayanan, President of India, August
14-15, 1997
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Pope John Paul II discussing the management of
the Sahelian Drought, 1983
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Famine Triage Classification of Countries
Haiti Cant- be-saved Egypt Cant-be-saved T
he Gambia Walking Wounded Tunisia Should
Receive Food Libya Walking Wounded
India Cant-be-saved Pakistan Should
Receive Food
- Paul and William Paddock, 1967
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Era of Sharing of Genetic Resources
Fultz (U.S. winter wheat, high yield)
Daruma (Japanese semi-dwarf)
X
Fultz-Daruma (semi-dwarf, high yield)
Turkey Red (U.S. winter, high yield)
X
Norin 10 (semi-dwarf, winter, high yield) (Dr
Gonziro Inazuka in 1935)
Locals (adapted to U.S. Northwest)
X
Gaines (semi-dwarf, winter, U.S. adpted)
X
Local Strains
New Wheats (semi-dwarf, high yield, adaptable,
rust-resistant, fast-maturing,spring)
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Wheat Revolution Symphony (1968) (Pan GoI
Approach)

• Technology
• Services
• Public Policies
• Farmers enthusiasm

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Brimming with enthusiasm, hard-working, skilled
and determined, the Punjab farmer has been the
backbone of the revolution. Revolutions are
usually associated with the young, but in this
revolution, age has been no obstacle to
participation. Farmers, young and old, educated
and uneducated, have easily taken to the new
agronomy. It has been heart-warming to see young
college graduates, retired officials, ex-armymen,
illiterate peasants and small farmers queuing up
to get the new seeds. At least in the Punjab,
the divorce between intellect and labour, which
has been the bane of our agriculture is vanishing
Secret of Success Farmer Scientist Partnership
- M S Swaminathan The Punjab Miracle, The
Illustrated Weekly of India , May 11, 1969
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Sustainable Food Production
Intensive cultivation of land without
conservation of soil fertility and soil
structure would lead ultimately to the
springing up of deserts. Irrigation without
arrangements for drainage would result in
soils getting alkaline or saline. Indiscriminate
use of pesticides, fungicides and
herbicides could cause adverse changes in
biological balance as well as lead to an
increase in the incidence of cancer and
other diseases, through the toxic residues
present in the grains or other edible
parts. Unscientific tapping of underground
water would lead to the rapid exhaustion
of this wonderful capital resource left to
us through ages of natural farming. The
rapid replacement of numerous locally
adapted varieties with one or two high
yielding strains in large contiguous areas
would result in the spread of serious
diseases capable of wiping out entire
crops, as happened prior to the Irish
potato famine of 1845 and the Bengal rice
famine of 1942. Therefore, the initiation
of exploitative agriculture without a proper
understanding of the various consequences
of every one of the changes introduced
into traditional agriculture and without
first building up a proper scientific and
training base to sustain it, may only lead
us into an era of agricultural disaster in
the long run, rather than to an era of
agricultural prosperity.
- M.S. Swaminathan Indian Science Congress,
Varanasi, January 4, 1968
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Some questions we face in Biology today
Will Malthus Continue to be Wrong?
We need to set priorities, understand reasons
that make ecosystems resistant or vulnerable
also whether stressed ecosystems, such as marine
fisheries, have a threshold at which they wont
recover
India will be the most populated country in the
world by 2030
What dont we know? 1 July 2005 Vol 309 Science
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Green Revolution and Evergreen Revolution
Pathways
Green Revolution Commodity-centred increase in productivity Change In plant architecture, and harvest index Change in the physiological rhythm-insensitive to photoperiodism Lodging resistance Evergreen Revolution increasing productivity in perpetuity without associated ecological harm Organic agriculture cultivation without any use of chemical inputs like mineral fertilizers and chemical pesticides Green Agriculture cultivation with the help of integrated pest management, integrated nutrient supply and integrated natural resource management systems Ecoagriculture Based on conservation of soil, water and biodiversity and the application of traditional knowledge and ecological prudence EM Agriculture system of farming using effective microorganisms (EM) White agriculture System of agriculture based on substantial use of microorganisms, particularly fungi One-straw Revolution system of natural farming without ploughing, chemical fertilizers, weeding and chemical pesticides and herbicides
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Threats to an Ever-green Revolution

• Invasive Alien Species
• Abiotic Stresses
• Biotic Stresses
• Market factors
• Climate Change
• Constraints in the exchange of genetic resources
• IPR and access to technologies
• Diminishing support to public good research

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Biodiversity Molecular Breeding Mangroves
There are no useless plants - Charaka
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Open field trial of a transgenic rice plant with
Superoxide dismutase gene from Avicennia marina
Field Trails being carried out at Kalpakkam
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 Genetic Shield
Prosopis juliflora has wide adaptation to water
stress and drought conditions Used as source
material for drought tolerant genes
Control
36 days of water withdrawal
Preparing for adverse changes in precipitation
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The Way Ahead
Our ability to achieve a paradigm shift from
green to an ever-green revolution and our ability
to face the challenges of global warming and sea
level rise will depend upon our ability to
harmonise organic farming and the new genetics.
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Community Food, Nutrition and Water Security
System
Cultivation
Consumption
Genetic Enhancement
Conservation
Community Grain Bank
Seed Bank
Participatory Breeding
Field Gene Bank
Post Harvest Processing Value addition
Water Bank
Community Gene Bank
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Farming Systems Diversification and Value Addition
8 growth rate in horticulture and animal
husbandry will be necessary to achieve 4 growth
rate in agriculture as a whole
Livestock and Livelihoods Over 50 million women
and 15 million men are involved in Dairy
Enterprises in India
India Largest Producer of Milk in the World
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Jamsetji Tata National Virtual Academy for Rural
Prosperity NVA
ICT-enabled knowledge flow Lab to Lab, Lab to
Land, Land to Lab, Land to Land
Uplink Satellite
Web based interactive portal
State Level Hub (MSSRF) Data Managers (both
connectivity and content)
Data Generators Providers
Data Users (Rural families)
Block level hub
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Torch bearers of the Rural Knowledge Revolution
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http//www.nemoc.navy.mil/Library/Metoc/IndianOce
an/BayofBengal/Models/Swaps/SigWavHtandDir
Series/index.html
Life saving role of VKC during Tsunami (26
December 2004)- VEERAMPATTINAM
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No Time to Relax Shaping our Agricultural Future
Population rich but land hungry countries like
China and India have no option except to produce
more food grains and other agricultural
commodities per units of land and water under
conditions of diminishing per capita availability
of arable land and irrigation water, and of
expanding biotic and abiotic stresses. Such a
challenge can be met only by harnessing the best
in frontier technologies and blending them with
our rich heritage of ecological prudence.
Eco-technologies for an Ever-green revolution
should be the bottom line of our strategy to
shape our agricultural future.
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Iowa gifted to the world great visionaries and
missionaries like Henry Wallace, Norman Borlaug,
Aldo Leopold and George Washington Carver. Norman
Borlaugs epic fight against hunger is well
known. George Washington Carver served as an
Advisor to Mahatma Gandhi on matters relating to
eliminating poverty and improving human
nutrition. It is therefore appropriate that Iowa
is the home to the World Food Prize Foundation.
George Washington Carver