The Violence of the Green Revolution: Third World Agriculture, Ecology, and PoliticsThe Green Revolution has been heralded as a political and technological achievement—unprecedented in human history. Yet in the decades that have followed it, this supposedly nonviolent revolution has left lands ravaged by violence and ecological scarcity. A dedicated empiricist, Vandana Shiva takes a magnifying glass to the effects of the Green Revolution in India, examining the devastating effects of monoculture and commercial agriculture and revealing the nuanced relationship between ecological destruction and poverty. In this classic work, the influential activist and scholar also looks to the future as she examines new developments in gene technology. |
Contents
Introduction | 11 |
1 Science and Politics in the Green Revolution | 19 |
2 Miracle Seeds and the destruction of Genetic Diversity | 61 |
3 Chemical Fertilizers and Soil Fertility | 103 |
4 Intensive Irrigation Large Dams and Water Conflicts | 121 |
5 The Political and Cultural Costs of the Green Revolution | 171 |
6 Pepsico For Peace? The Ecological and Political Risks of the Biotechnology Revolution | 195 |
The Political Ecology of Technological Change | 231 |
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acre agricul agricultural research Anandpur Sahib Beas Bhakra dam Bhatinda biotechnology Borlaug breeding Central government Centre chemical fertilizers conflict corporate cost created crisis crops cultivation cultural cusecs Delhi demands destruction diseases dwarf varieties ecological economic erosion Faridkot farm farmers Ferozepur food grain Foundation gene genetic diversity genetic resources Green Revolution Green Revolution strategy Haryana hectares herbicides high yielding varieties impact increase India indigenous industry inputs intensive agriculture intensive irrigation International IRRI Kapurthala Kg/ha lakh land linked Ludhiana ment million monocultures National nature nature's nutrient oilseeds output patent peasants Pepsico Pepsico project pesticides pests plant breeding political production programme pulses Punjab Agricultural University Rajasthan region resistance river Rockefeller Rockefeller Foundation Ropar scarcity Seed Policy shift Sikh social soil spinning wheel Sutlej SYL canal Third World tion tional tonnes traditional violence vulnerability water table waterlogging wheat and rice