World Development, Vol. H , No. 1 1 , pp. 9 2 7 - 9 4 4 , 1983.
Printed in Great Britain.
0 3 0 5 - 7 5 0 X / 8 3 $3.00 + 0.00
® 1983 Pergamon Press Ltd.
Income Distribution Effects of the Green Revolution
in India: A Review of Empirical Evidence
M. P R A H L A D A C H A R *
Institute for Social and
Economic
Change, Bangalore, India
Summary. - This paper examines the impact of the green revolution on selected dimensions of
income disttibution in India, by reviewing the Indian empijical evidence, (i) The Indian empirical
studies suggest a wide diffusion of modern varieties (MVs) among farmers, over time, irrespective of farm size and tenurial status. But the pace of diffusion of MVs of a given crop among
farms, across the regions and over the years has certainly revealed a tendency t o be interlinked
with the nature and level »f their (regions) development in physical and institutional infrastructure, (ii) Through prospects of increased demand for labour, the green revolution has
undoubtedly exerted a favourable impact on theabsolute income status of tlic landless labourer,
notwithstanding the fact that the owners of land and capital have gained relatively more than
the labourers in the increased production due to MVs. (iii) The impact of MVs on regional
income differences has been one of increasing the gap mainly due to an interplay between
differentials in levels of physical and infrastructural development of regions and productlocation-spccificity characteristics of MVs.
1.
INTRODUCTION
There are indeed differences a m o n g analysts
as t o w h e t h e r t h e t e r m 'green r e v o l u t i o n ' is
a p p r o p r i a t e in c h a r a c t e r i z i n g t h e relatively
recent t r e n d s t h a t have set in, in Asian agricult u r e , w i t h t h e i n t r o d u c t i o n of m o d e r n varieties
of cereals. T h e s e d i f f e r e n c e s reflect t h e c o n t r o versy t h a t has arisen w i t h r e g a r d t o t h e d i s t r i b u tional i m p l i c a t i o n s of t h e g r e e n r e v o l u t i o n in
Asian a g r i c u l t u r e . Even b e f o r e t h e c h a n g e s
a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e g r e e n r e v o l u t i o n w e r e in t h e
process of being w o r k e d o u t , m a n y a n a l y s t s , as
Schultz ( 1 9 7 8 ) remarks, 'turned t o making
p r e d i c t i o n s a b o u t t h e u n f a v o r a b l e social s i d e
effects of this t y p e of e c o n o m i c d y n a m i c s ' . '
M o r e o v e r m a n y of t h e s e ' p r e d i c t i o n s ' w e r e
based o n personal observations, impressions
and f r a g m e n t a r y e v i d e n c e . T h e c o n c l u s i o n s /
inferences d r a w n b y m a n y a n a l y s t s in t h e i r
studies w e r e h a s t y a n d h y p o t h e t i c a l , l a c k i n g in
empirical a u t h e n t i c i t y . ^
T h e m a i n p u r p o s e of this p a p e r , t h e r e f o r e ,
is t o e x a m i n e I n d i a n e m p i r i c a l e v i d e n c e o n t h e
green r e v o l u t i o n , w i t h a view t o o b t a i n i n g as
far as possible an i n t e g r a t e d p i c t u r e of its
(green r e v o l u t i o n ' s ) effect o n s e l e c t e d d i m e n sions of i n c o m e d i s t r i b u t i o n in I n d i a . T h e m a j o r
credit f o r the present analysis s h o u l d go t o t h e
927
p a i n s t a k i n g efforts of several r e s e a r c h e r s w h o
in t h e first i n s t a n c e c o l l e c t e d a n d / o r analysed
a large a m o u n t of field d a t a , t o u c h i n g o n t h e
varied a s p e c t s of t h e g r e e n r e v o l u t i o n in several
p a r t s of t h e c o u n t r y . T h e e n o r m o u s n u m b e r of
s t u d i e s e x i s t i n g o n t h e green r e v o l u t i o n in t h e
c o u n t r y m a k e s it difficult, if n o t i m p o s s i b l e , t o
i n c l u d e e a c h o n e of t h e m in o u r review. T h e r e f o r e , t h e c h o i c e of s t u d i e s cited in t h e c o u r s e
of this review is d i c t a t e d r a t h e r by t h e i r usefulness and r e p r e s e n t a t i v e n e s s in o b t a i n i n g a n
i n t e g r a t e d p i c t u r e , k e e p i n g in m i n d t h e conflicting v j e w s / h y p o l h e s e s Jield in literal m e w i t h
regard t o t h e i n c o m e d i s t r i b u t i o n effects of
t h e g r e e n r e v o l u t i o n . T h i s review has benefited
a great deal from s o m e of t h e earlier a n a l y t i c a l
studies/reviews on the subject. A m o n g them,
special m e n t i o n m a y be m a d e of t h o s e by
C. H. H . R a o ( 1 9 7 5 ) , V y a s ( 1 9 7 5 ) , D a s g u p t a
( 1 9 7 7 ) a n d K. B a r d h a n ( 1 9 7 7 ) .
* This review was prepared while 1 was visitinp Associate Professor, during 1981 82, at the Department of
Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of
Minnesota. I am deeply grateful to Professor Vernon
W. Rullan, Carl E. Piay, Professor K. WilHam Easter
and an anonymous referee of the journal for their
constructive comments on an earher draft. However
the usual disclaimers apply.
928
WORLD DEVELOPMENT
T h e review has t h e f o l l o w i n g m a j o r d i m e n sions in its c o n t e n t : ^ (i) i n c o m e d i s t r i b u t i o n
effects (of t h e g r e e n r e v o l u t i o n ) a m o n g p r o d u c e r s ( a n d t e n a n t s ) of a r e g i o n ; (ii) i n c o m e
d i s t r i b u t i o n effects (of t h e green r e v o l u t i o n ) o n
landless l a b o u r e r s ; (jii) relative s h a r e s of f a c t o r s
of p r o d u c t i o n in t h e increase in p r o d u c t i v i t y
d u e t o m o d e r n varieties ( M V s ) ; (iv) t h e green
r e v o l u t i o n vis-a-vis r e g i o n a l i n c o m e disparities.
T h e growing i m p o r t a n c e of MVs in t h e I n d i a n
e c o n o m y m a y b e a p p r e c i a t e d from t h e fact
t h a t in 1 9 7 6 - 7 7 , t h e l a t e s t y e a r for w h i c h d a t a
are readily available, o n e - t h i r d of t h e t o t a l
c e r e a l s ' area was s o w n w i t h MVs.^ T h a t t h e
m a j o r b r e a k t h r o u g h in n e w seed-water-fertilizer
t e c h n o l o g y , ^ b o t h i n t e r m s of c o v e r a g e in a r e a
a n d yield p e r f o r m a n c e , has c o m e a b o u t m a i n l y
in w h e a t c r o p as well as t h e r e a s o n s for this a r e
well d o c u m e n t e d by m a n y r e s e a r c h e r s . A l s o , t h e
r e a s o n s for t h e relatively l i m i t e d successes of
n e w t e c h n o l o g y in r e s p e c t of o t h e r cereals, especially rice, are critically e x a m i n e d in a n u m b e r
of s t u d i e s . L i k e w i s e , t h e f a c t o r s a c c o u n t i n g
for t h e differential a d o p t i o n and p e r f o r m a n c e
of MVs of different cereals in t h e s a m e region
a n d of t h e s a m e cereal in different r e g i o n s a r e
analysed in several s t u d i e s . N e v e r t h e l e s s , it m a y
be pointed out that Indian empirical studies
r e l a t i n g t o MVs of cereals refer (i) m a i n i y t o
w h e a t and rice a n d (ii) m a i n l y t o l A D P districts.*
Jn a d d j l i o n t o these l i m i t a t i o n s of c r o p and
g e o g r a p h i c a l biases in e m p i r i c a l s t u d i e s (i.e. t h a t
M V s of c r o p s o t h e r t h a n w h e a t a n d rice a n d
areas o t h e r t h a n l A D P districts are relatively
less s t u d i e d ) , t h e r e is t h e h m i t a t i o n of ' t i m e
b i a s ' , in that m o s t of t h e e v i d e n c e flows from
a first few y e a r s ' e x p e r i e n c e of t h e green revolut i o n i n t h e c o u n t r y . A p a r t f r o m t h e s e biases,
m o s t of t h e studies are c o n d u c t e d m o r e o r less
i n d e p e n d e n t l y in t e r m s of research design and
m e t h o d o l o g y m a k i n g it difficult t o s u b j e c t t h e i r
d a t a t o rigorous statistical exercises. N e v e r t h e less, t h e w e l c o m e f e a t u r e is t h a t t h e y d o c o n t a i n
m a n y c o m m o n e l e m e n t s and c o v e r a c o m m o n
set of issues.^
T h e m a i n s t a y of t h e green r e v o l u t i o n has
b e e n t h e fact t h a t ' t h e MVs have high yield
p o t e n t i a l , being m o r e responsive t h a n t h e local
varieties t o higher levels of f e r t i l i z a t i o n , effective
water control and drainage measures and
effective c o n t r o l of diseases a n d i n s e c t s ' . T h e s e
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c features of MVs lie at t h e r o o t of
b o t h t h e p r o b l e m s and p r o s p e c t s t h a t are
relevant t o the i n c o m e d i s t r i b u t i o n effects of
t h e green r e v o l u t i o n , t n fact m u c h of t h e h e a t
t h a t is g e n e r a t e d in evaluating t h e i m p a c t of
MVs o n i n c o m e d i s t r i b u t i o n derives its fuel
from v a r y i n g p e r s p e c t i v e s in w h i c h MVs w i t h
t h e i r i n h e r e n t c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s are h e l d t o affect/
benefit t h e different classes of t h e rural society.
A t t h e o u t s e t it is significant l o m a r k the
c o n s i d e r a b l e a m o u n t of e m p i r i c a l e v i d e n c e that
e x i s t s b y n o w w h i c h has e s t a b l i s h e d , even in
field c o n d i t i o n s , t h e economic superiority
of
MVs o v e r t r a d i t i o n a l varieities - in t e r m s of
yields a n d / o r r e t u r n s p e r unit of area, m o r e
i m p r e s s i v e l y in t h e case o f w h e a t a n d maize,
and less so in t h e case of o t h e r MVs of cereals.^
T h e fact of e c o n o m i c s u p e r i o r i t y of MVs
o v e r t r a d i t i o n a l varieties l e n d s a special edge t o
t h e i n c o m e d i s t r i b u t i o n effects of t h e green
r e v o l u t i o n a m o n g p r o d u c e r s of a region ( t h e
first d i m e n s i o n in o u r review), p r o v i d e d we
discover significant differentials in levels of
a d o p t i o n a n d p e r f o r m a n c e of MVs b e t w e e n
small and large f a r m e r s and b e t w e e n lando w n e r s a n d t e n a n t s r e s p e c t i v e l y . It is t o t h e
review of e m p i r i c a l e v i d e n c e on this aspect
t h a t we n o w t u r n .
A D O P T I O N P A T T E R N O F M V s AMOl^G
FARMERS AND TENANTS
( a ) Small versus large
farmers^
T h e a b s e n c e of time-series d a t a o n area size
u n d e r MVs has b e e n indeed a h a n d i c a p in
tracing t h e t r e n d in a d o p t i o n p a t t e r n s by small
a n d large f a r m e r s in t h e c o u n t r y . Especially in
regions w h e r e MVs a r e n o t a d o p t e d universally,
c o l l e c t i o n of such d a t a w o u l d be of i m m e n s e
u t i l i t y . In t h e a b s e n c e of such c o m p r e h e n s i v e
official s t a t i s t i c s , we a r e c o m p e l l e d t o d e p e n d
o n ' a d o p t i o n s t u d i e s ' u n d e r t a k e n b y various
agencies and o r g a n i z a t i o n s .
Biases of c r o p , region and time-profile of
t h e e m p i r i c a l evidence o n t h e green revolution
in t h e c o u n t r y n o t w i t h s t a n d i n g , fairly c o m p r e hensive surveys o n t h e a d o p t i o n p a t t e r n of MVs
w e r e u n d e r t a k e n b y : (i) t h e P r o g r a m Evaluation
O r g a n i z a t i o n ( P E O ) of t h e p l a n n i n g commission
for t h e years 1 9 6 7 - 6 8 , 1 9 6 8 - 6 9 a n d 1 9 6 9 ^ 7 0 ,
a n d (ii) b y A g r o - E c o n o m i c Research Centers
( A E R C s ) variously for t h e years 1 9 6 6 - 6 7 t o
1 9 6 8 - 6 9 . F i n d i n g s based o n a critical analysis
of d a t a collected in t h e s e surveys are readily
available from t w o studies u n d e r t a k e n by
L o c k w o o d , M u k h e r j e e and S h a n d ( 1 9 7 1 ) and
b y S c h l u t e r and Mellor ( 1 9 7 2 ) respectively.
T h e L o c k w o o d et al. s t u d y , based o n data in
t h e 1 9 6 7 7 0 P E O surveys covered five crops w h e a t , rice, m a i z e , bajra and s o r g h u m - and
fairly large s a m p l e s from t h e relevant states of
India for individual c r o p s . A s t r o n g positive
linear r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n t h e p r o p o r t i o n of