The causes responsible for the green revolution/new agriculture strategy are undernoted:

1. High Yielding Varieties of Seeds (HYV):

One of the basic pre- requisite of technical changes is the high yielding variety of seeds (HYV). With this programme it becomes possible to lead intensive agriculture.

It was, thus, during mid-sixties that the high yielding variety of wheat was evolved. Since then a number of HYV seeds of wheat, paddy, maize, and bajra have been developed and widely distributed throughout the country.

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In 1966-67, only 1.89 million hectares of land had been brought under HYV seeds which rose to 56.18 million hectares in 1986-87. During 1991-92, the area under high yielding varieties of seeds was 64.7 million hectares which rose to 79.0 million hectares in 2000-01.

2. Chemical Fertilizers:

The use of chemical fertilizer is another reason promoting for accelerating the growth of agricultural output in the short period. In this regard, National Commission on Agriculture has rightly said, “It has been the experience throughout the world that increased agricultural production is related to increased consumption of fertilizers. Since 1950-51 Indian fertilizer industry has continuously expanded.

The total production capacity which was 0.31 million tonnes in 1950-51 has reached to 9.04 million tonnes in 1990-91 and further to 15.23 million tonnes in 2002-03, As regards the consumption of fertilizers it was only 0.13 million tonnes at the beginning of the First five year plan.

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The consumption of fertilizers increased from 5.51 million tonnes in 1980-81 to 12.9 million tonnes in 1990-91. In 2001-02, consumption was recorded to be 17.3 million tonnes.

3. Irrigation:

Water along with HYV seeds and fertilizer forms a significant input, to raise agricultural production. Thus, availability of water is possible either from rain or surface flow or below ground. In India, availability of irrigation is highly scanty and more than 70 per cent of agriculture is dependent on rainfall.

The rainfall is confined to few months i.e., June to September. Moreover, rainfall in most parts of the country is very low, where, it is high, and the available soil moisture is not adequate to support multiple cropping. Hence, there is an urgent need for providing assured supplies of irrigation.

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4. Pesticides:

It has been estimated that about 10 per cent crop is damaged every year due to defective and inadequate plant protection measures. The adoption of HYV has strengthened the need of such measures because it is conducive to the growth of the plant population.

In order to meet these problems, central insecticides laboratory with its two branches at Hyderabad and Bombay and two regional centres at Kanpur and Chandigarh continue to augment efforts to ensure pesticides to cultivators.

5. Role of Public Institutions:

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Several new public institutions like National Seeds Corporation, Agro Industries Corporations, National Cooperative Development Corporation etc. have been set up to promote services to the cultivators at door steps. Moreover, they have been provided with sufficient funds to lend liberal loans to peasants to adopt latest farm technology.

6. Guaranteed Minimum Prices:

The guaranteed minimum prices have been given due recognition as an incentive to agricultural production. Support price policy for food grains was adopted in 1964 throughout the country. In order to advice the Govt, for suitable price policies for agriculture.

Agricultural Price Commission (APC) was set up in the subsequent year (presently known as Agricultural Price and Cost Commission) (APCC). Similarly, Food Corporation of India was also set up for the purchase of food grains.

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7. Agricultural Machinery and Improved Implement:

Another stress has been given to the role of agricultural machinery and improved implements. A number of measures have been adopted in this direction to facilitate organization and development of agricultural research. The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was reorganized in 1965.

Agricultural Universities have been set up in most of the states which were conceived as combining the functions of education, research and extension. Agro Industries Corporation in different states has been set up to motivate the cultivators for the application of improved inputs.

8. Multiple Cropping Programme:

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The approach in the new agricultural strategy is the introduction of multiple cropping programmes in the country. It aims at maximizing production per unit of land and per unit of time by taking three or four crops in a year. By adopting multiple cropping programmes, there are two advantages as of getting increased returns and economizing the farm resources.

9. Plant Protection Measures:

As pests and diseases have been causing severe damage to crops, plant protection has been considered another major component of new agricultural strategy. This programme includes seeds treatment, intensive aerial ground spraying and weeds control.

10. Credit Facilities:

Farmers have been getting more credit facilities. Previously, farmers have to depend on money lenders for their credit requirements. But now most of the credit needs are filled by credit institutions. Thus, with the availability of cheap credit, farmers are in position to use improved seeds, fertilizers, machines etc. They have also arranged for minor irrigation facilities.

11. Marketing Facilities:

In order times, farmers have to sell their produce in unregulated mandies where they could not get better remunerative prices. As a result, they were unable to spend their money on the development of agriculture. Since then, there is a lot of improvement in the field of agricultural marketing.

12. Soil Testing:

Soil testing is another step to extend the benefits of Green Revolution. Soil of different regions is tested in Govt, laboratories. The purpose of these tests is to know what type of fertilizers and seeds will be more fruitful in different regions.