India’s Green Revolution of the 1970s turned a starving nation into a food exporter, but it also exhausted water supplies and saturated soils with chemicals. This project—TIGR2ESS—brings together UK and Indian crop scientists, hydrologists, social scientists, and policy experts to design a second, sustainable Green Revolution for India. The problem is that the intensive farming methods that boosted grain output have plateaued since the 1980s, while water and nutrient resources face mounting pressure. Meanwhile, urbanisation is pulling workers—especially men—away from farms, and technology is reshaping food-sector jobs. Current agricultural choices do not reflect these societal shifts. If successful, the programme will define a new policy agenda and collaborative research focused on sustainable crop production and water use under a changing monsoon climate. Two flagship projects will tackle fundamental questions in crop science—broadening the potential of staple and orphan crops—and sustainable water use from farmer to consumer. A third will translate findings into rural education, entrepreneurship, and equal opportunities. Over 40 senior and early-career researchers will exchange between India and the UK, building lasting capacity. The lessons could also guide other developing countries facing similar pressures.
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TIGR2ESS: Transforming India's Green Revolution by Research and Empowerment for Sustainable food Supplies The record grain outputs of India's Green Revolution in the 1970's established India as one of the world's largest agricultural producers, transforming the country from a starving nation to a food exporter, creating jobs and boosting the economy. However, behind this extraordinary achievement were varying levels of success across different Indian regions, and overuse of water, fertilisers, pesticides and other chemicals on an unsustainable scale. In terms of agricultural productivity, the technologies of the Green Revolution plateaued in the 1980s, yet the continued adherence to a strategy of intensive agriculture has led to increasing pressure on water and nutrient resources. The proposed project (TIGR2ESS) will develop and strengthen alliances across a carefully selected network of UK and Indian experts in crop science, hydrology, social science and policy, allowing two-way knowledge exchange partnership to define the requirements for a second Green Revolution in India, set the necessary policy agenda, and define a collaborative research programme focused on sustainable crop production and sustainable resource use (with a focus on water use from farmer to consumer in a changing monsoon climate). Working together will enable us to contextualise the challenge in terms of the widespread changes taking place in Indian society today, including: urbanisation, drawing many away from rural work, particularly men; and technological developments transforming the employment opportunities within food sector away from primary production. Choices about modern agricultural practices in India must reflect societal needs, and our understanding of these needs will help us orientate the subsequent research programme and its translation towards an outcome that is both technically and socially acceptable - and possible - for today's India. The target for this programme is India, but relevance is in other developing countries, which in moving beyond the first Green Revolution of the 1960's, face unprecedented change due to societal and environmental pressures. The TIGR2ESS consortium will combine two innovative approaches to tackle these issues in India: Firstly, a series of Flagship Research projects will address fundamental research issues, and integrate their delivery and impact via a translational programme of outreach, education and entrepreneurial stimuli; secondly, a series of capacity building academic exchanges will support leading researchers from India and UK to frame collaborative research questions, and allow extensive training of more junior researchers to deliver these advances. At the heart of the TIGR2ESS proposal, the Flagship Projects will tackle fundamental research questions, with the first providing an overarching analysis to define the requirements for a 'second' Green Revolution in India. Secondly, a programme of research capacity exchanges will allow over 40 senior and young researchers to work in India or the UK, providing training and skills enhancement opportunities in research areas across the programme. Additional field-based community surveys and workshops will promote rural community engagement and empowerment. Overall, the programme will address the associated demographic and equality issues facing farmers in the context of increasing urbanisation. Two core Flagship Projects will use fundamental scientific approaches to address key issues in Crop Sciences (broadening the production potential of dietary staples and providing lessons for orphan crops) and Sustainable Resources (with a focus on water sources and sustainable use, from farmer to consumer, in a changing monsoon climate). The final Flagship project will translate these findings in order to promote equal opportunities, stimulate entrepreneurship and develop educational programmes for nutrition across rural communities.
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