Coming to terms with tropical ecology: technology transfer during the early Green Revolution
That plants native to one region of the world often fare poorly when transferred to another region has long been known. It seems odd, therefore, that the Green Revolution (GR) programmes of the 1950s and into the ‘60s sought to transfer temperate zone technology to the tropics. Proponents of the GR,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2021-07-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2021.1908747 |
| _version_ | 1797680423508115456 |
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| author | Jonathan Harwood |
| author_facet | Jonathan Harwood |
| author_sort | Jonathan Harwood |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | That plants native to one region of the world often fare poorly when transferred to another region has long been known. It seems odd, therefore, that the Green Revolution (GR) programmes of the 1950s and into the ‘60s sought to transfer temperate zone technology to the tropics. Proponents of the GR, however, justified this mistake by arguing that they had had little choice. For knowledge of tropical agriculture was at that time largely confined to export crops while GR programmes focused upon food staples. An understanding of how to transfer technology to the tropics, they maintained, was only achieved in the 1960s at the new international agricultural research centres. Both of these claims, however, are highly misleading. By the 1950s the field of tropical agriculture had much to say about staples which would have been relevant to early GR programmes. Moreover, it was not until the late ‘60s that the new IARCs began to address fully the problem of transfer, and by the early ‘70s these efforts had lost momentum. It would appear, therefore, that those planning the early GR programmes were either unaware of existing knowledge about tropical agriculture or knew but chose to ignore it. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:29:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-798b9603e8bd40a0b764d6227b8e42e3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1473-5903 1747-762X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T23:29:49Z |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability |
| spelling | doaj.art-798b9603e8bd40a0b764d6227b8e42e32023-09-20T10:18:00ZengTaylor & Francis GroupInternational Journal of Agricultural Sustainability1473-59031747-762X2021-07-01193-430531810.1080/14735903.2021.19087471908747Coming to terms with tropical ecology: technology transfer during the early Green RevolutionJonathan Harwood0University of ManchesterThat plants native to one region of the world often fare poorly when transferred to another region has long been known. It seems odd, therefore, that the Green Revolution (GR) programmes of the 1950s and into the ‘60s sought to transfer temperate zone technology to the tropics. Proponents of the GR, however, justified this mistake by arguing that they had had little choice. For knowledge of tropical agriculture was at that time largely confined to export crops while GR programmes focused upon food staples. An understanding of how to transfer technology to the tropics, they maintained, was only achieved in the 1960s at the new international agricultural research centres. Both of these claims, however, are highly misleading. By the 1950s the field of tropical agriculture had much to say about staples which would have been relevant to early GR programmes. Moreover, it was not until the late ‘60s that the new IARCs began to address fully the problem of transfer, and by the early ‘70s these efforts had lost momentum. It would appear, therefore, that those planning the early GR programmes were either unaware of existing knowledge about tropical agriculture or knew but chose to ignore it.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2021.1908747green revolutiontropical agriculturetechnology transfercimmytirri |
| spellingShingle | Jonathan Harwood Coming to terms with tropical ecology: technology transfer during the early Green Revolution International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability green revolution tropical agriculture technology transfer cimmyt irri |
| title | Coming to terms with tropical ecology: technology transfer during the early Green Revolution |
| title_full | Coming to terms with tropical ecology: technology transfer during the early Green Revolution |
| title_fullStr | Coming to terms with tropical ecology: technology transfer during the early Green Revolution |
| title_full_unstemmed | Coming to terms with tropical ecology: technology transfer during the early Green Revolution |
| title_short | Coming to terms with tropical ecology: technology transfer during the early Green Revolution |
| title_sort | coming to terms with tropical ecology technology transfer during the early green revolution |
| topic | green revolution tropical agriculture technology transfer cimmyt irri |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2021.1908747 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jonathanharwood comingtotermswithtropicalecologytechnologytransferduringtheearlygreenrevolution |