| Notes |
Development in Mexico
See also: Agriculture in Mexico
Mexico has been called the 'birth place and burial ground of the Green Revolution.[7] It began with great promise and it has been argued that "during the twentieth century two 'revolutions' transformed rural Mexico: the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) and the Green Revolution (1950–1970)".[8] It was on the lead of the Mexican government in 1943, under Presidential order and finance of the Mexican President Manuel Ávila Camacho, and support of the U.S. government, the United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the Rockefeller Foundation. For the U.S. government, its neighbor Mexico was an important experimental case in the use of technology and scientific expertise in agriculture that became the model for international agricultural development.[9] Mexico made a concerted effort to transform agricultural productivity, particularly with irrigated rather than dry-land cultivation in its northwest, to solve its problem of lack of food self-sufficiency.[10] In the center and south of Mexico, where large-scale production faced challenges, agricultural production languished.[11] Increased production promised food self-sufficiency in Mexico to feed its growing and urbanizing population with the increase in number of calories consumed per Mexican.[12] The technology was seen as a valuable way to feed the poor, and would relieve some pressure of the land redistribution process.[13] In general, success of "Green Revolution" depended; on the use of machinery for cultivation and harvest, on large-scale agricultural enterprises with access to credit (often from foreign investors), government-supported infrastructure projects, and access to low-wage agricultural workers.[14]
Mexico was the recipient of knowledge and technology of Green Revolution, and it was an active participant with financial supports from the government for agriculture and Mexican agronomists. In the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution, the government had redistributed land to peasants in some parts of the country which had broken the back of the hacienda system. During the presidency of Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-1940), land reform in Mexico reached its apex in the center and south of Mexico. Agricultural productivity had fallen significantly by 1940s. U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace, previously president Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Secretary of Agriculture, visited Mexico who helped in uplifting the research program in Mexico that emphasized in increased productivity rather than land reform.[15] During the administration of Manuel Avila Camacho (1940–46), the government put resources into developing new breeds of plants and partnered with the Rockefeller Foundation, and was also supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.[16] In 1941, a team of U.S. scientists, Richard Branfield (Cornell University), Paul C. Mangelsdorf (Harvard University), and Elvin Charles Stakman (University of Minnesota) surveyed Mexican agriculture to recommend policies and practices.[17] Norman Borlaug, a key figure developing Green Revolution practices in Mexico, studied with Stakman at University of Minnesota.[18]
Locations of Norman Borlaug's research stations in the Yaqui Valley and Chapingo.
Agriculture in Mexico had been a sociopolitical issue, a key factor in some regions' participation in the Mexican Revolution. It was also a technical issue enabled by a cohort of trained agronomists who advised peasants how to increase productivity.[19] In the post-World War II era, the government sought development in agriculture that bettered technological aspects of agriculture in regions—not dominated by small-scale peasant cultivators. This drive for agricultural transformation would have the benefit to Mexico on self-sufficiency in food and in the political sphere during the Cold War (potentially stem unrest and the appeal of Communism).[16] Technical aid can also be seen as serving political ends in the international sphere. In Mexico, it also served political ends separating peasant agriculture based on the ejido and considered one of the victories of the Mexican Revolution, from agribusiness that requires large-scale land ownership, irrigation, specialized seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, machinery, and a low-wage paid labor force.
In 1943, the Mexican government founded the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), which became a base for international agricultural research. The government also created the Mexican Agricultural Program (MAP) to be the lead organization in raising productivity. One of their successes was in wheat production with varieties dominating wheat production as early as 1951 (70%), 1965 (80%), and 1968 (90%).[20]
Mexico became the showcase for extending the Green Revolution to other areas of Latin America and beyond, into Africa and Asia. New breeds of maize, beans, and wheat produced bumper crops with proper inputs (such as fertilizer and pesticides) and careful cultivation. Many Mexican farmers who had been dubious about the scientists or hostile to them (often a mutual relationship of discord) came to see the scientific approach to agriculture as worth adopting.[21]
The requirement for the full package of inputs of new strains of seeds, fertilizer, synthetic pesticides, and water were often not within the reach of small-scale farmers. The application of pesticides could be hazardous for farmers. Their use often damaged the local ecology, contaminating waterways and endangering the health of workers and newborns.[22]
One of the participants in the Mexican experiment, Edwin J. Wellhausen, summarized the factors leading to its initial success. These include: high yield plants with disease resistivity, adaptability, and ability to utilize fertilizers; improved use of soils, adequate fertilizers, and control of weeds and pests; and "a favorable ratio between the cost of fertilizers (and other investments) to the price of the produce."[23] |