| The average rate of growth of agricultural output in India was around 2.5 per cent per year in the 1950s. Then came the Green Revolution. The Green Revolution is the period from 1940 to 1960, when agricultural production in developing countries soared as a result of governments stressing on the development of agriculture. This transformation was brought about through new programs of agricultural research, extension and infrastructural development.
In the late sixties, India realized the importance of technology in agricultural growth. This followed the import of specialized wheat seed and the development of hybrid and high yield varieties of seeds for various crops in the country. As a result, India embarked on its own Green Revolution programme, where plant breeding, irrigation development and financing of agrochemicals were encouraged.
By the late 1970s, the Green Revolution in India was responsible for increasing rice yields by 30 per cent. It also provided the country the opportunity to curb its population growth without suffering a recurrence of the devastating famines of the 1940s.
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