Agronomist proposes genetic introgression to mitigate the after-effects of Green Revolution The Green Revolution played a major role in improving the agricultural economy of India as a newly independent nation back in the 1950s. Apart from the politics and schemes that played behind the revolution, K.P. Prabhakaran Nair, as a young Indian scientist then, was more concerned about the impact it would have on environment. He had then suggested that excessive use of fertilizers would lead to rise in atmospheric temperature, though he received little support from the scientific community back then. Now leading a retired life following an illustrious career as one of the leading agronomists of the country and Senior Fellow at Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany, Prof. Nair’s concern is about mitigating the after-effects of the Green Revolution and thus saving Indian agriculture. Speaking to The Hindu on the occasion of World Environment Day, he elaborated on how indigenous species of crops can save Indian agriculture from imminent disaster. “The Green Revolution helped us produce enough food. But at what environmental cost? It ruined the soil all over South Asia and Latin America. It was like throwing the baby with the bathwater. It failed because it was not agriculture but agribusiness,” he said. Having studied the after effects of the Green Revolution in India and in other parts of the world, Prof. Nair feels that it would have succeeded if alien blood were not brought into it. “The high-yielding seeds that responded well to chemical fertilizers was the key to green revolution. It spoiled our soil. The case would have been something else if native seed varieties were used,” he said recalling that many of the indigenous varieties have been lost amidst the business. “After all, what has the white man taught us other than greed,” he quoted the African farmers who stayed immune to it throughout. What ails agriculture Identifying low natural fertility of soil and the inability of the crops to face global warming and climatic changes as what ails the Indian agriculture now, Prof. Nair has put forth a plan to mitigate the situation. “Every indigenous species has a wild relative. We need to track down the wild relative of each crop. The genes that make them more resistant and immune to the climatic changes have to be transferred into the crops. The process is known as genetic introgression,” he explained. However, tracking the wild ones will not be an easy task. The African jungles and rural interiors of India may posses some of them. Though time consuming and tiresome, it is the only way out from the consequences of the Green Revolution, Prof. Nair added. We need to track down the wild relative of each crop. The genes that make them more resistant to climatic changes have to be transferred into the crops. The process is known as genetic introgression