The toxic legacy of the green revolution

There are more than 390,000 recognized plant species in the world, but only three – rice, corn and wheat – account for about 60% of plant calories in our diet. The dominance of these three grains is largely the result of major technological breakthroughs, particularly the development of high yielding varieties (HYV) of rice and wheat during the green revolution of the 1960s.

But even though nutritional enhancement was the primary goal of growing these grains, the emphasis on increasing yields has significantly undermined their nutritional value. In particular, the levels of vital nutrients in rice and wheat, India’s two most important staple foods for example, have declined significantly. Worse, arsenic levels in rice rose significantly.

These findings have far-reaching health implications for those who consume these grains. Increased consumption of staples like rice and wheat – the target of the green revolution – could end up exacerbating India’s already significant disease burden.

This is also true of many other countries that have relied heavily on HYVs to boost yields and increase staple crop production. For example, the recently renamed Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa continues to support an outdated industrial model of agriculture that has not delivered the expected nutritional benefits.

As I have argued before, nutrition should not be viewed solely in terms of total calorie consumption based on monoculture. While the superior nutritional value of a diverse diet is now widely recognized, achieving it requires not only technological innovation but also a shift in focus towards growing a variety of crops best suited to the local environment and climate.

India’s experience provides a warning for developing countries. In India and elsewhere it is becoming increasingly clear that adopting agroecological practices based on micro-farming is the most effective way to develop food systems that are both sustainable and nutrient-dense. But this requires moving away from the predatory commercialization of agriculture, which primarily serves the interests of big agribusiness, to a model that benefits real food producers and consumers.