The 'Green Revolution' - Geography@NumptyNerd · The 'Green Revolution' The Green Revolution of the...
Transcript of The 'Green Revolution' - Geography@NumptyNerd · The 'Green Revolution' The Green Revolution of the...
+ In this section you'll learn about differences between top-down and bottom-up development.
The 'Green Revolution' The Green Revolution of the 1970s changed rice
growing forever. lt offered HYV (High Yielding
Variety) seeds, instead of the traditional lower
yielding varieties - which had sometimes not
produced enough food and led to hunger. The
HYVs were developed by scientists working for
trans-national corporations (TNCs). Now the rice
plants are shorter, grow quicker, and produce
more grain than traditional rice (see right) .
0·9 tonnes per hectare
100 cm
NEW (HYV)
1·6 tonnes per hectare
Thanks to the new HYVs (or 'miracle seeds' as
they are sometimes called), India now exports
rice. However, the overall effects have been
mixed: .A The differences between HYVs and traditional varieties of rice.
• Farmers now have to buy new seeds every
year, instead of saving some from last year's
harvest.
• The seeds are high yielding, but they also need
irrigation water, fertiliser and pesticides. Only
larger, wealthier farmers can afford these.
• Crop yields are higher than traditional varieties,
so incomes have risen - for the wealthy.
• The over-use of chemicals to control pests, has
reduced the resistance to pesticides.
Working from the bottom up ASTRA (Application of Science and Technology
in Rural Areas) is a recent development project
in rural India. Local researchers found out what
people's lives were like. They talked to families,
recorded how they spent their time, and listened
to their problems and needs. This is an example
of how a bottom-up development project works.
Top-down development The Green Revolution is an example of 'topdown development' - where decisions
about development are made by governments
or large private companies. These decisions
are then imposed on people, because -
supposedly- there will be benefits for them.
Top down development involves:
• Decision-makers looking at the 'big
picture' to identify needs or opportunities,
e.g. to establish national energy sources,
food security, or better transport networks.
• Experts helping to plan the changes.
• Local people being told about them, but
with no say in whether they will happen or
not.
The argument goes that all people will benefit
by a process called 'trickle down' - where jobs
and therefore wealth, 'trickle down' to the poor.
The problem of time ASTRA found that, for most rural families, the
daily routine takes time - especially for women
and girls. Cleaning, collecting fuel, preparing and
cooking food, fetching water, tending sacred
cows, looking after the vegetable patch - all
before any paid work is done in the fields! Rural
girls have little education and few complete
primary school. Most time is spent collecting
fuelwood. Every family needs 25-30kg of it every
week, and it takes hours to collect. As population
increases, it's in increasingly short supply.
Solution -think cow dung! However, the answer could be right under their
noses- cow dung! Cow dung is a highly valued
resource, because it produces gas- called
biogas -which is used for cooking by day, and
powering an electricity generator at night. lt is fed
into a brick, clay or concrete-lined pit that forms
part of a biogas plant (see diagram). The pit is
sealed with a metal dome and the dung inside
ferments to produce methane. As pressure builds
up, the methane is piped into homes. it's a simple
technique using local materials- and is another
example of intermediate technology (see
Section 4.8).
Families gain because:
• less time is spent collecting fuelwood
• there's no ash, so less time is spent cleaning
• heat is instant, so cooking is quicker
• there 's less smoke and fewer cases of lung
disease.
+ Bottom-up development means
• experts work with communities to identify their real needs
• giving local people control in improving their lives • experts assisting with progress
Biogas collection
Inlet
.A A biogas plant
your questions
1 Explain the difference between 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' development projects.
2 a Copy and complete the table below to compare these 'top-down' (HYV) and 'bottom-up' {biogas) development projects.
0 I Top-down I Bottom-up project project
Size and scale
Aims of the project
Who pays for it
Who makes the decisions about what's needed
Raw materials and technology required
Who benefits
b Use your completed table to decide which type of project is best for (i) national interests, (ii) local communities.
3 Exam-style question Using examples, describe the differences between top-down and bottom-up development. (6 marks)
.·
+ In this section you'll assess the benefits and problems of a top-down
development project.
Top-down - the government decides! Over much of India, rainfall is seasonal
and unevenly spread (see right). Parts of
north-west India are so dry that semi-desert
exists, which prevents people from making
a decent living. Across the rest of India,
between:
• May and September, the Indian monsoon
brings huge falls of rain that are difficult
to imagine- think of the heaviest rain
you have ever seen, and then double it.
• November and March, almost no rain
falls across large areas of India.
As India's population increases, and its
economy booms, demand for water is
rising. As a result, the Government decided
that western India needed super dams to:
• encourage economic development, by
providing drinking water and electricity
for cities and industries
• open up dry lands for farming using
irrigation to feed a growing population.
Building large dams makes it possible to
store monsoon rains to use during the dry
season. By 2008, the Indian Government
had built over 4500 dams - 14 of which are
super dams. Now the Narmada - one of
Western India's major rivers (see right)- is
being tackled with a series of 3000 dams
(big and small). The scheme will take a 100
years to complete! But how well will it work
for people and the environment?
AFGHANISTAN
PAKISTAN
• N
0 400 Km
• Rainfall patterns in India
T The Narmada River in western India, and the
site of the largest dam - the Sardar Sarovar.
0 60 ...__..____. Km
CHINA
Key Rainfall in mm
0<200
0 200-400
0 400-500
- 600-1000
- 1000-1500
- 1500-2500
- >2500
+ Irrigation is taking water from areas that have it, to those that
don't, in order to allow farming .
The Sardar Sarovar Dam The Sardar Sarovar Dam, along the Narmada River
(see photo), is already one of the world's largest
dams. When completed, it will provide water all
year round to areas of India that suffer drought.
Groups benefiting from the dam
Originally designed to be 80 metres high, the
government now plans to raise the dam to 136.5
metres - to increase its capacity.
• People in India's cities. The dam is multi
purpose - it provides 3.5 billion litres of
drinking water a day, and 1450 megawatts of
hydroelectric power (HEP), which is more than
750 wind turbines!
• Farmers in other parts of western India.
A series of canals distribute water to other
states in India. When complete, they w ill
irrigate 1.8 million hectares of farmland in
the driest parts of Gujarat, Maharashtra,
Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh (see maps
opposite). Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh suffer
from drought and lose £20 billion in farm
production each year.
your questions
WAc...ftfo yo&A fAi"'k?
+ Do you th ink governments have the right to develop
'top-down' schemes like this if they affect so many
people?
1 a Copy and complete the following table about the
economic, social and environmental benefits and problems of the Sardar Sarovar Dam.
I Benefits I Problems
Economic
Social
Environmental
b Highlight in one colour those benefits or problems
Groups losing out from the dam
• Local residents. 234 villages have been drowned
so far, forcing 320 000 people out. Few villages can
afford the electricity generated by the dam - only the
cities benefit.
• Local farmers. Good quality farmland has been
submerged. Those gaining from irrigation will lose
out from increased soil salinity, making the soil
less usable. Damming the river means that fertile
sediment, normally deposited on flood plains each
year, will be lost.
• Western India. Religious and historic sites have been
flooded by the dam. The silt brought down by feeder
rivers will collect behind the dam and reduce the
reservoir's capacity.
• People downstream. This area has a history of
earthquake activity. Seismologists believe that the
weight of large dams can trigger earthquakes, which
could destroy the dam and cause massive loss of life.
which are local, and in another those which are further away.
c Which are the greatest benefits- economic, social or environmental? Are they local or further away?
d Which are the greatest problems?
e Explain whether you think top-down schemes like this should be built if they cause such problems.
2 Exam-style question For a top-down development project that you have studied, explain its benefits and problems. (8 marks)