Q: The Green Revolution was to reduce the hunger problem in the world, but did it?
On the whole, I feel that the Green Revolution helped to solve the problem of poverty to a certain extent. While it greatly reduced poverty in some countries, other countries were not as fortunate and did not enjoy the benefits the Green Revolution brought about. Hence, the Green Revolution only helped to solve the issue of poverty in some parts of the world but did not completely eradicate the issue.
The most significant benefit of the Green Revolution was that there was higher yield and an increase in food production. The development of high yield varieties meant that only a few species of crops, such as rice, had to be grown. In India, for example, there were about 30,000 rice varieties prior to the Green Revolution, as compared to today where there are only ten, which are the most productive types of rice. With these selected types of rice, farmers could produce more crops within a shorter period of time and earn more money, which then lead to a better standard of living. In addition, cereal production more than doubled in developing nations between the years 1961–1985. Yields of rice, maize, and wheat increased steadily during that period. The production increases can be attributed equally to irrigation, fertilizer, and seed development, some of which might have disease-fighting capabilities which help to increase its lifespan and thus the profit of the farmer. With higher yield and increased food production around the year, farmers earned more profit from the crops they harvested which allowed them to buy more food supplies. This increased their wealth and also helped to lessen the extent of their hunger problems.
On the other hand, there have been some issues with high yield varieties that have been produced during the period of the Green Revolution. The mono-cropping of high yield varieties increased the susceptibility of rice crops to pests