Agricultural Techniques: South Asia as an Agent of Change
"The green revolution in India and Pakistan, which is still largely the result of a breakthrough in wheat production, is neither a stroke of luck nor an accident of nature. Its success is based on sound research, the importance of which is not self-evident at first glance."-Norman Borlaug (1970)
In 1966 India was in the midst of food shortage and famine, as the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru focused on India's economy in the heavy industry. The minister of Food and Agriculture in India, C. Subramaniam, was acquainted with Norman Borlaug's work in Mexico and believed that he could help India. The India government ordered 16,000 metric tons of the miracle wheat.
Borlaug and his team taught the farmers how to cultivate the wheat properly in South Asia and they saw rapid results. India became self sufficient in food production by 1971. By 1974 Pakistan went from harvesting 3.4 million tons of wheat per year to 18 million and India went from producing 11 million tons to 60 million. By the 1980s India exported grains. The Green Revolution later spread into other parts of Asia.