SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Fear of continuing food shortage in India has stimulated efforts to increase agricultural output, and in recent years much research has been directed towards raising returns per unit area of land. Dwarf, high yielding varieties of wheat, rice, maize and millet introduced to India in the 1960s are capable of at least doubling the yields of their indigenous counterparts, and in addition, the shorter maturation period required by the new varieties potentially increases the number of crops that can be harvested each year. Theoretically, these plants could contribute much towards raising agricultural output, but only if their environmental needs are met, as high yields depend heavily on large and frequent applications of water, fertilizer, insecticide and pesticide. In the agricultural district of Bulandshahr in western Uttar Pradesh, by 1972, new varieties of wheat in particular, had been widely adopted, but the level of their success was unknown. A study limited to six villages was conducted in central Bulandshahr in 1972, with the aim of assessing how successfully farmers were growing dwarf wheat. Data were collected mainly by questionnaire and as areal patterns showed that the adoption of new wheat was almost complete in the study area, the next step was to see whether new farming methods had been similarly adopted. Essential cultivation techniques were examined to see if they had changed significantly from traditional methods, but the best measure of success, in farming dwarf wheat -is the yield, so information on crop returns was collected and the relationships of such returns with farming techniques examined. As all results showed considerable variation, the cultivators were classified, for example, according to their caste, farm size or education level, in an attempt to identify any factors which may have influenced their farming practices. The success of the high yielding varieties rests not only on the cultivators' enthusiasm, but also on a continued supply of essential inputs. Both field work and secondary sources showed the growing difficulties of obtaining adequate inputs, a trend unlikely to change rapidly, and which, if it continued, could reverse the initial success which attended the raising of dwarf varieties.