The last time when the world's farmers felt such love was in the 1870s. At that time, as food prices spiked, there was real concern that the world was facing a crisis in which the planet was simply unable to produce enough grain and meat for an expanding population. Governments across the developing world and international aid organisations plowed investment into agriculture in the early 1870s, while technological breakthroughs, like high- yield strains of important food crops, boosted production. The result was the Green Revolution and food production exploded. But the Green Revolution became a victim of its own success. Food prices plunged by some 60% by the late 1880s from their peak in the mid- 1870s. Policymakers and aid workers turned their attention to the poor's other pressing needs, such as health care and education. Farming got starved ofresources and investment. By 2004, aid directed at agriculture sank to 3.5% and "Agriculture lost its glitter." Also, as consumers in high-growth giants such as China and India became wealthier, they began eating more meat, so grain once used for human consumption got diverted to beef up livestock.
By early 2008, panicked buying by importing countries and restrictions slapped on grain exports by some big producers helped drive prices upto heights not seen for three decades. Making matters worse, land and resources got real.located to produce cash crops such as biofuels and the result was that voluminous reserves of grain evaporated. Protestsbroke out across the emerging world and fierce food riots toppled governments. This spurred global leaders into action. This made them aware that food security is one of the fundamental issues in the world that has to be dealt with in order to maintain administrative and political stability. This also spurred the U.S. which traditionally provisioned food aid from American grain surpluses to help needy nations, to move towards investing iq farm sectors around the globe to boost productivity. This move helped countries become more productive for themselves and be in a better position to feed their own people.
Africa, which missed out on the first Green Revolution due to poor policy and limited resources, also witnessed a 'change'. Swayed by the success of East Asia, the primary poverty-fighting method favoured by many policymakers in Africa was to get farmers off their farms and into modern jobs in factories and urban centers. But that strategy proved to be highly insufficient. Income levels in. the countryside badly trailed those in cities while the F AO estimated that the number of poor going hungry in 2009 reached an all time high at more than one billion.
In India on the other hand, with only40% ofits fannland irrigated, entire economic boom currently underway is held hostage by the unpredictable monsoon. With much of India's farming areas suffering from drought this year, the government will have a tough time meeting its economic growth targets. In a report, Goldman Sachs predicted that if this year too receives weak rains, it could cause agriculture to contract by 2% this fiscal year, making the government's 7% GDP-growth target look "a bit rich'!. Another ·green revolution is the need of the hour and to make it a reality, the global community still has much backbreaking farm work to do.
Which of the following is an adverse impact of the Green Revolution?

Options

A. Unchecked crop yields resulted in large tracts ofland becoming barren
B. Withdrawal of fiscal impetus from agriculture to other sectors
C. Farmers began soliciting government subsidies for their produce
D. Farmers rioted as food prices fell so low that they could not make ends meet

Answer

B