Miracle Grain

Lesson Title: Miracle Grain

Authors : Kathleen C. Anderson and Kenith Ijams

Author Information: Kathleen Anderson is a doctoral candidate in the Cognitive Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh. She received her BA in geography from the University of Washington. Kenith Ijams is a World Geography/World History teacher at Miles Exploratory High School in Tucson, Arizona.

Grade: AP Geography

Continent : Asia (specifically the country of India)

Key Words: Green Revolution, economic development, India, agriculture

Time Needed: Two or three 50-minute class periods

Overview: This lesson would fit into a unit on development and has been designed to be an example of how development technology created by the west is implemented in a developing country. This lesson is a simulation of the implementation of the Green Revolution in two villages in Northwest India in the late 1960's as the new seeds first started to appear on the world scene. The simulation has preserved actual circumstances wherever possible.

Definition of Key Terms:

agriculture : the science and practice of farming, including the cultivation of the soil and the rearing of livestock.

big push theory : this theory concludes that developing countries can break out of their poverty trap by investing in high-wage industries and infrastructure. As employees receive higher wages, the consumer base expands because they can afford to buy more goods. This encourages the creation of additional supporting industries to fill consumer demand and, in turn, creates more people who can afford to buy the goods. This cycle increases development.

dependency theory : the theory that industrialized nations continue to take resources from developing countries due to neocolonialism, widening the development gap.

development : the extent to which the resources of an area or country have been brought into full productive use. It may also carry in common usage the implications of economic growth, modernization, and improvement in levels of material production and consumption.

human capital : an ill-defined composite of skills, habits, schooling, and knowledge that contributes to successful economic development and sustained growth.

inputs : the additional resources necessary for successful crop cultivation, i.e., pesticides, fertilizer, water, labor, machinery, etc.

intensive agriculture : any agricultural system involving the application of large amounts of capital and/or labor per unit of cultivated land; this may be part of either a subsistence or a commercial economy.

underdevelopment : from a strictly economic point of view suggests the possibility or desirability of applying additional capital, labor, or technology to the resource base of an area to permit the present population to improve its material well-being.

Objectives: Student will be able to:
1. Understand the meaning of the Green Revolution as an example of economic development.
2. Understand the local impacts of the Green Revolution in India.
3. Understand how the Green Revolution amplifies existing economic and social disparities between rich and poor farmers on a local scale.
4. Understand the role of population growth on agricultural resources of the land.

Materials:
1. Role cards (included)
2. Suggested classroom set up (included)
3. Background sheet (included)
4. Directions for game (included)
5. List of geographic forces (included)
6. Family cards (list of ideas included)
7. Score cards (master included, make copies)
8. Land cards (master included, make copies)
9. Timer
10. A sign that says New Delhi

Teacher Preparation: This lesson provides a case study demonstrating how economic models of development are implemented in developing countries. Many development theorists believe that developing countries need more infrastructure, more capital, and high-wage industries to propel them out of the poverty trap in which they currently find themselves. This is known as the big push theory. There are many different versions but all of them read like a recipe. Add a cup of money, a dash of roads, and a handful of industry, allow to simmer for 20 years and development should be achieved. The very problem with this recipe format is that it ignores all of the ingredients that are already present in the developing country before other ingredients are added.

Recipe style theories stem primarily from stage theories of economic development. The most famous of these stage theories is from the economist Walt Rostow who, in the 1960's, theorized that there are five stages through which each country passes on its way to development. In his model, traditional societies have subsistence agriculture, and low levels of technology. The preconditions for take-off are reached when traditional societies begin to organize themselves around political rather than kinship units and start to invest in transportation systems and other forms of infrastructure. The critical stage is "take-off" which lasts approximately 20 years and during which rates of investment increase, new industries are established, resources are exploited, and growth is continuous. It is this stage of take-off that western economists wish to try to achieve in developing countries so that they are on their way to becoming industrialized and are out of the poverty trap.

The Green Revolution is not a classic example of the formula that economists often try to use to develop a country because it focuses specifically on increasing agricultural yields rather than increasing technology and infrastructure. Nevertheless, it still provides a good example of western technology developing a product, implementing it in a developing country, and changing the traditional economic and social structures of that country.

The Green Revolution: The Green Revolution began in 1943 in Mexico when the Rockefeller foundation funded U.S. agricultural scientists to set up research in Mexico aimed at wheat production. By 1950, the first Green Revolution wheat seeds were distributed. Some refinements needed to be made to their initial efforts. One example was that the wheat stocks could not support the extra wheat and would flop over, causing the wheat to rot. To solve this, scientists made the stocks shorter.

After all problems seemed to be eliminated, the seeds were distributed and all appeared to be a success. Yields were two to five times larger than that of traditional varieties. The project was then expanded to include maize, and eventually to include many other grains such as rice, Jowar, and Bajra.

In 1967, the Green Revolution expanded to other parts of the world. The wheat remained the most successful of all of the grains. Rice was more susceptible to pests and disease, and it was not in demand as much on the world market because consumers liked the taste of the traditional variety of rice better. Between 1950 and 1970, the total food grain production in India doubled due to the efforts of the Green Revolution. In 1970, Norman Borlaug, one of the founders of the Green Revolution won the Nobel Peace Prize for promoting world peace through eliminating hunger.

Although the Green Revolution did meet with enormous success, especially in relation to other efforts of development, it still came under criticism for amplifying the traditional economic and social disparities that already existed in India. This simulation attempts to have your students feel this amplification and gain an appreciation for the complexities of development and the costs and benefits to any development effort.

Note to the teacher: the following articles are excellent sources for class discussion on the Green Revolution. The first article listed served as much of the basis for this lesson.
Chakravarti, A.K. (1973). Green revolution in India. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 63(3), pp. 319-330.

Sudhir, S. (1981). How to combat world famine: Whatever happened to the green revolution- and what we should do about it now. Commonweal, 11 pp. 489-496.

Yapa, L. (1989). What are improved seeds? An epistemology of the green revolution. , vol? pp. 254-273.

Activities:
1. Have student draw membership to village out of a bag. Based on the role chosen, organize the desks in the classroom so that all of the subsistence farmers are crunched together in their village on one side of the classroom, and the few landowners are spread out on the other side of the classroom.
2. Once this is done, read the background for the game found on the background sheet.
3. Read the directions.
4. Play the game.
5. Have members from each of the two villages discuss how they felt as some farmers began to get miracle grain.
a. What happened when some of the farmers began to get miracle grain?
b. How would the situation have been different if miracle grain had never been introduced?
c. Did the farmers who had miracle grain think it was worth it?
d. What were the benefits of having miracle grain.
e. Do a list of pros and cons on the board and have students identify the benefits of having miracle grain as well as the costs.

Extensions:
1. Discuss culture in India, caste system, regions, etc.
2. Go into the Green Revolution in other regions in the world.
3. Study the impact of some of the other varieties of grain.

Evaluation:
Have students write an essay discussing the ways in which the Green Revolution has amplified existing social and economic disparities between rich and poor farmers on a local scale in any region where the Green Revolution has been implemented. Students should use outside research articles, textbook material and class discussion to justify their ideas.

MIRACLE GRAIN SIMULATION

BACKGROUND SHEET

It is the late 1960's. You are farmers in villages in Northwest India, outside of the large urban center of New Delhi. Most farms in this region engage in subsistence cultivation, meaning that you grow and harvest food grains to feed your families. All of the land is currently occupied, so in order to feed your increasing family, you must grow more food on the land that you already have. Traditionally, you have planted local varieties of food grains that evolved over centuries to be suited to the environmental conditions of your region such as low soil fertility, periodic drought, monsoons and local pests. Efforts to improve the yield (amount of food you can harvest from your land) by adding fertilizers and extra water have failed in the past.

Very recently, however, new types of grains have been developed by geneticists in the West which have a much higher yield than the local grain. These genetically engineered grains have been called "Miracle Grain." One obstacle, however is that this new miracle grain requires expensive fertilizers, pesticides and lots of water to produce the higher yields.

All of these "inputs" are expensive and most of the farmers in India cannot afford them. Even if farmers can afford them initially, there are constant expenses along the way because the new grain requires more inputs. The higher yield from the miracle grain crop means that more labor is required during harvest time. Also, the transportation system in India is poor so even if farmers do produce a surplus from their crop, they have trouble distributing it.

Subsistence Farmers:
Most of you are from the village of Lachhampur in the district of Bulandshahr, 140 km southeast of New Delhi. This village was settled by Lodhies, a depressed Hindu caste of farmers. The average farms size is one acre and farmers rent the land from landowners who are often absent. Since the new miracle grain has been introduced into your region, however, some of the landowners have been returning and evicting tenants because they see a chance to make a large profit from the higher yields that the new grains provide. As of yet, this is not a large problem and has only happened to one group of families. The average yield for a one-acre farm is 10 bushels of grain per season. Only 50% of the farms have canal irrigation and the risk of crop failure is high due to periods of drought .

Landowners:
A few of you are from the village of Belon, close to the village of Lachhampur. You are high caste Brahmin and Kshatriya farmers. You also grow food grains and your farm size is either 20 or 25 acres; much larger than the subsistence farmers. You have adequate canal irrigation in your village and eight wells, providing your crops with needed water during periods of drought. Some of you have loans to help you modernize.

MIRACLE GRAIN SIMULATION

DIRECTIONS

INTRODUCTION:
This game simulates the impact of the Green Revolution in the two villages of Belon and Lachhampur in Northwest India during the late 1960's. Each student will receive one score card to keep track of their progress during the game. There are a total of ten rounds. Each round represents one growing season. The unit of wealth is a bushel of grain. Students also receive land cards. These cards represent their plots of land and the potential number of bushels that can be harvested during a growing season. The game should be played in the following order:

1. Students will draw cards out of a bag indicating the village to which they belong. The ratio of landowners to subsistence farmers is in increments of 15. Teachers should modify the numbers depending on the specific size of their classroom. For example, in a class of fifteen there will be three landowners from the village of Belon, one with a 25-acre farm and two with 20-acre farms. There will be 12 subsistence farmers from the village of Lacchampur, each with a one-acre farm.
2. Once roles have been selected, distribute land cards. Subsistence farmers with one-acre farms have small land cards with only ten boxes on them. Landowners have multiple land cards with 200 or 250 boxes on them depending on the size of their farm.
3. Once the land cards have been distributed, the classroom should be modified to reflect the geography of the two villages. Landowners should be spread out on one side of the classroom and subsistence farmers should be grouped together on the other side of the classroom. Each subsistence farmer will have one student desk that will represent his/her farm. Landowners each have three or four desks, to represent their larger plot of land, as well as the need to hire additional labor during the game. If extra desks are not available, chairs can be placed next to landowners desks. Please refer to diagram for a suggested layout.
4. Teacher will use the background sheet to tell the story of the two villages. At the appropriate part of the story, have students look in the upper right hand corner of their land card. If their card has a square, this means they have access to irrigation on your farm. (Reminder: only half of the subsistence farmers will receive land cards with wells).
5. Pass out score cards.
6. Students can begin playing the game. The teacher should indicate the actions that the students need to take at each row of the score card during round one. The directions for play can be found in the next section labeled "score card."

Note: This game has been designed to approximate actual conditions as closely as possible. The villages you are in really did exist under these circumstances in India in the late 1960's. The conditions affecting the growth of crops both traditional and miracle grain crops have been based on research documenting actual conditions.

MIRACLE GRAIN SIMULATION

SCORE CARD

Surplus:
- Look at your score card.
-The first row is marked surplus.
-Write "0" in the surplus box for the first round. This indicates that you begin with no bushels of grain.

Harvest:
-The second row is marked harvest.
-You have been given land cards with squares on them. Each square represents one bushel of grain that can be harvested.
-To simulate a harvest, you will be given a total of 60 seconds to write a letter "G" in as many boxes as possible. For each "G" that you write, you earn one bushel of grain. The teacher will tell you when to begin marking your Land Card.
- Beginning at about round 3 students may have enough surplus to purchase miracle grain. Miracle grain has a higher yield than traditional grain. One bushel of traditional grain is equal to four bushels of miracle grain, but remember, each additional bushel must be harvested. This requires landowners to hire more labor. Landowners may not hire labor in time for their harvest in round one.
- After the first round, the landowners from the village of Belon will have the option of negotiating with the substance farmers from the village of Bracchampur to help them harvest their grain. Rates of pay will have to be worked out between individuals. Please be aware, however, that all grain must be harvested within the 60 seconds allotted. Farmers hired to harvest grain for the landowners must travel to the land owners farm to harvest. (The travel of the students across the classroom is to simulate transportation costs.)

-Note to the teacher: In reality, the yield of miracle grain is twice that of traditional grain and the income for each bushel is twice that of traditional grain. Since this game does not have money, it is simply reduced to being four bushels of miracle grain to every one bushel of traditional grain. By having students harvest more of the grain, it keeps students in the game longer because they can go to work for the landowners .

Transactions:
- The third row is marked transactions. This is the place where students with enough surplus can purchase miracle grain for their land, and where labor negotiations are made.
-This is the only time that any negotiations can be made during each round.
- Miracle grain costs 2.5 times more than traditional grain due to all of the extra inputs it requires (pesticides, fertilizers). When subsistence farmers (students) buy miracle grain it comes with all of the inputs except for access to extra water.
- Therefore, for a student with a one acre plot of land, the cost of miracle grain is 25 bushels. For a student with a 20 acre plot of land, the cost is 500 bushels. For a student with a 25 acre plot of land, the cost is 625 bushels.

Family:
- The fourth row is marked family and is already filled in.
- Each student represents one family.
- Each family member consumes one bushel of grain per growing season. (This simulates India's dramatic population growth and the pressure it puts on resources. )
- Until round seven, your family's population growth doubles and then it levels off for rounds eight, nine and ten. This is a geometric increase in population growth and although families do not increase this rapidly, the total population of India is increasing geometrically, so it simulates the increasing population base.

Geographic Forces:
- The fifth row is marked geographic forces.
- In the geographic forces box the students will either have to subtract a given number of bushels, or add a given number of bushels to their existing surplus. Keep in mind, that for farmers in India, there are far more penalties than dividends.
- The teacher will announce either a natural or social force affecting the two villages during that growing season (i.e. round). (See included geographic forces sheet).
- Farmers that have miracle grain will have additional forces with which to contend. When at least one student has miracle grain on their farm, the teacher will announce either a natural or social force specific to miracle grain. (See included geographic forces sheet).
- In addition, cards will be passed out to each family. The family cards will indicate something happening within a student's individual farm/family as opposed to the village as a whole. (See included family card list).

Note to the teacher: You will be in control of this section during the game. Please refer to the separate sheet listing geographic forces and directions for distributing or assigning them.

Surplus:
This is the number of bushels left after the growing season. This number begins the next round and should be written in the surplus box at the top of your card for the next round.

Note to the teacher: This simulation was created as part of the AP geography institute and has not yet been field tested. Please feel free to adjust it as you need.

MIRACLE GRAIN SIMULATION

Geographic Forces

Forces for both villages

-Rat infestation in grain storage facility. Lose 10% of yield

-Monsoon hits. Lose 30% of yield

-Drought this season. Lose 10% of yield

-Poor soil due to overuse. Lose 10% of yield

-Road washed out, grain rots. No surplus this season, start with "0" in the next round.

-Demand for traditional grain goes down, (lose 20% of surplus if you don't have miracle grain and add 10% of surplus if you do have miracle grain)

-Drought in another region increases demand for grain. Add 30% to yield

Extra geographic forces For Farmers With Miracle Grain

-Jassid fly is resistant to pesticide. Lose 10% of yield

-Disease invades crops due to poor pesticides. Lose 10% of yield

-Tax for displaced poor in New Delhi. Lose 10 bushels.

-Yield down due to poor fertilizer this season. Lose 10% of surplus.

-Train wreck! Fertilizer doesn't arrive in time. Lose 10% of surplus.

-Subsidized grain from America gluts the market. Lose 30% of surplus.

-Demand for grain goes up in region and prices rise. Add 20% to surplus.

-You get a second crop in this growing season due to good weather. Double your yield, but pay hired labor same rate as for current harvest.

-Cannot transport surplus to market because your truck broke down. Lose this growing season's surplus start the next round with zero.

-Government builds a road to another market and prices rise. Add 10% to your surplus.

MIRACLE GRAIN SIMULATION

FAMILY CARDS

Family cards for villagers without miracle grain :

-You have a new baby girl! Lose one bushel.

-Relatives evicted from their farm, they will stay with you for the season. Lose 10 bushels.

-Your oldest daughter gets married. Lose 20% of yield.

-Sorry! You are evicted from your land when absent owner returns. Lose score card. Either move onto landowner's farm if hired or move to New Delhi. (In New Delhi you are out of the game due to distance from the farms.)

-You need to purchase new farm implements. Lose 5 bushels.

-Absent landowner comes to collect rent. Lose 10 bushels.

-Your hard work pays off! Add 20% to yield.

- A neighbor helps you harvest. Add up to 20 bushels of unharvested grain.

-Government program gives you a new well and irrigation canals. Add 50% to yield.

-Government gives you miracle seeds for one round. Quadruple your yield.

Family cards for villagers with miracle grain

- Soil fertility is down due to miracle grain. Lose 10% of yield.

- You need a diesel pump for your well. Lose 50 bushels.

- Your children are sick due to pesticides in the water. Lose two bushels per child.

- You need a new irrigation canal. Lose 50 bushels.

- Price of fertilizer rises on world market due to increase in petroleum prices. Lose 10% of yield.

- You need a new well to have enough water. Lose 100 bushels.

- Oops! You applied the pesticide too late and were infested with insects. Lose 20% of yield.

Resources:

Role Cards

Score Card

Sugg. Classroom Set up
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