Question

What is Dr. Norman Borlaug's contribution to wheat cultivation in India?

Answer 1

The cultivation of wheat dates back to more than 5000 years back during the era of Indus valley civilization where the original species was Triticum Sphaerococcum popularly known as Indian wheat has now disappeared and replaced by present day species- Triticum aestivum or the common Bread Wheat, Triticum durum or the Macaroni wheat and the Triticum dicoccum or the Emmer Wheat. During independence, the country was dependent on wheat import to meet the food demand of the country. Due to the lodging prone low yielding nature of Indian wheat under high fertility conditions, there remained a continuous need for a breakthrough in wheat production. The wheat received u n d e r PL 480 agreement continued to be the main base on which the large population of India was dependent. It was finally the dream of Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, the father of green revolution during mid sixties that came true to materialize the spurt of the Green Revolution in the Indo gangetic plains by which India became a wheat surplus country from a deficient one. This led to the achievement of as hunger free world by then as India plays a major role in creating a global status of food security. The production level of Wheat in India had a quantum jump from 6.46 m i l l i o n tones from an area of 9.75 million ha in 1950-51 t o more than 93 million tones from an area of about 30 million hectares during 2011-12. Currently, India is second largest producer of Wheat in the world after China with about 12% share in total world Wheat production. Now, India is surplus and in a position to export Wheat in the International Market and can earn foreign exchange.