The Impact of Agricultural Development on Environment

Agriculture was the key development that led to the development of human civilization. Since its development, agriculture has expanded vastly in geographical coverage and yields. The green revolution has changed India from a starving nation to one of the world's leading agricultural nation. However, introduction of the chemical farm inputs such as fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, etc., has started to degrade the agro-ecosystem. The quantity as well as frequency of chemical use in farming has been increasing in every cropping season, and yet the soil has to be replenished by more chemicals, while the total crop output is decreasing (Conway, 1997: The Doubly Green Revolution: Food for All in the 21st Century. London: Penguin). Due to the increased irrigation, groundwater depletion as well as contamination also came into the forefront. With the lowering of water table by 0.6 m a year, the farmers with shallow wells in Punjab were forced to drill tube wells (Brown, 2001. Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth. Earth Policy Institute, Washington DC). Further, through the entry of GM crops, the threat to biodiversity of the ecosystem is reported to be escalating even if the promoters of genetic engineering in agriculture are raising this development as the second Green Revolution.