Evergreen Revolution
Topic: Land Reforms, the Green Revolution and Farm Subsidies · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Evergreen Revolution is M.S. Swaminathan's idea of "productivity in perpetuity without ecological harm". It means raising crop yields year after year while protecting the soil, water and biodiversity (the variety of plants and animals) that farming depends on. The idea grew out of the costs of the Green Revolution, such as falling groundwater, overuse of nitrogen fertiliser and the spread of a single rice-wheat cycle. The goal is growth that lasts, not a short burst of growth that uses up natural resources.
Example
In Punjab, free farm power led to heavy pumping of groundwater for paddy. Cheap urea led to overuse of nitrogen. An evergreen approach would use Soil Health Cards (2015) to match fertiliser to each field's needs. It would use drip irrigation under PMKSY (2015, "Per Drop More Crop") to save water, and grow a legume in rotation with the cereals so the soil recovers.
Don't confuse with
- Second Green Revolution: this is about where and what to grow next: eastern and rainfed regions, pulses and oilseeds. The Evergreen Revolution is about how to grow, so that yields can last without damaging nature.
- Green Revolution: this raised output with HYV seeds, fertiliser and irrigation, mostly in the 1960s and 1970s. It paid little attention to ecological costs.
Related concepts
- Crop rotation
- Intercropping
- Mixed cropping
- Micro-irrigation
- Second Green Revolution
- Gene Revolution
- Yield gap
- Precision farming
- Digital agriculture
- Custom hiring centre