132 Agroecology and Sustainability
examining the various consequences of moving towards a lower input/lower out-
put agriculture.
In North America protection generally has been at a somewhat lower level.
Indeed, part of the cause of current high levels of bankruptcies among US farmers
is lack of protection from fluctuating world prices. Average yields per hectare for
cereals are generally lower than in Europe (2 tons/ha is the national average for
wheat in the US compared to 6 tons/ha in the UK). Nevertheless, there have been
dramatic increases in productivity, particularly in returns to labour, resulting from
intensive mechanization and inputs of agrochemicals. But soil erosion is now a
major threat and in some regions sustainability is being jeopardized by exhaustion
of irrigation water supplies (Crosson and Brubaker, 1982; Larson et al, 1983;
Brown and Wolf, 1984; Postel, 1984, 1985; Helms and Flader, 1985).
The Green Revolution in Indonesia
My final example concerns the transformation that has occurred over the last three
decades in the agriculture of many of the less developed countries (LDCs). Agri-
cultural scientists tend to dislike the phrase ‘Green Revolution’ with its journalistic
overtones. But the exploitation of the new cereal varieties, bred by the Interna-
tional Agricultural Research Centres, with their high pay-off genetic characteristics
of resistance to lodging, insensitivity to photoperiod and early maturation, cou-
pled with the organization and distribution of high pay-off inputs such as fertiliz-
ers, water-regulation and pesticides, and targeted on the best favoured agroclimatic
regions and the most progressive farmers, has all the hallmarks of a successful tech-
nological revolution.
The benefits in terms of productivity have been very great. Over the past two
decades food production in Asia has grown overall by 15 per cent per capita and
many countries in the region are close to cereal grain self-sufficiency. Indonesia’s
rice production has grown from under 14 million tons in the late 1960s to over 25
million tons in 1984 and the country now has a small surplus.
This dramatic increase in LDC productivity has been accompanied, however,
by numerous problems, ranging from pest and disease outbreaks to loss of com-
munal self-help arrangements (Frankel, 1971; Cleaver, 1972; McNeil, 1972;
Nickel, 1973; Collier et al, 1974; Griffin, 1974; Hauri, 1974; Palmer, 1976; Col-
lier, 1977; IRRI, 1979, 1980, 1981; Murdoch, 1980; Pearse, 1980; Hayami,
1981; Maunder and Ohkawa, 1983; KEPAS, 1984). In Indonesia the rice pro-
duction strategy received a severe setback in the mid-1970s due to recurring and
devastating outbreaks of brown planthopper (Nilaparvata lugens) (Conway and
McCauley, 1983). A switch to a new variety, IR36, was followed by a serious
attack of tungro disease, necessitating yet new varietal introductions. Large-scale
plantings of uniform crop varieties are intrinsically prone to pest and disease build
up, particularly where planting is asynchronous (Loevinsohn, 1984). Sustainabil-
ity in these circumstances is dependent on the crop breeders always staying one
step ahead.