As the saying goes, "the grass is always greener".

http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/whose-water/turning-scarcity-into-abundance
written by Vandana Shiva:

"The ecological and social costs of the Green Revolution were largely ignored. Through its emphasis on high-yield seeds, this agricultural model replaced drought-resistant local crop varieties with water-guzzling crops. The Green Revolution led to water drawing down aquifers in water-scarce areas."

...

"In the Deccan area of south India, sorghum was traditionally intercropped with pulses and oilseeds to reduce evaporation. The Green Revolution replaced this indigenous agriculture with monocultures. Dwarf varieties replaced tall ones, chemical fertilizers took the place of organic ones, and irrigation displaced rainfed cropping. As a result, soils were deprived of vital organic material, and soil moisture droughts became recurrent.

In drought-prone regions, ecologically sound agricultural systems are the only way to produce sustainable food. One acre of rice uses as much water as three acres of sorghum. For the same amount of water, sorghum provides 4.5 times more protein, four times more minerals, 7.5 times more calcium, and 5.6 times more iron, and can yield three times more food than rice. Had development taken water conservation into account, sorghum and millet would not have been called marginal or inferior crops."

deknow

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