.Yapa (1993) What Are Improved Seeds An Epistemology of The Green Revolution PDF

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What are Improved Seeds? An Epistemology of the Green Revolution

Author(s): Lakshman Yapa
Source: Economic Geography, Vol. 69, No. 3, Environment and Development, Part 1 (Jul.,
1993), pp. 254-273
Published by: Clark University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/143450 .
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What Are Improved Seeds? An Epistemology of the
Green Revolution*
Lakshman Yapa
Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University,
University Park, PA 16802
Abstract: After four decades of planned economic development, large numbers of

people in the Third World still lack the basic means of subsistence. Broadly
speaking, the academic debate on poverty has revolved around the type of
development: free-market, planned socialist, or environmentally sustainable. It
may be argued, however, that the principal problem lies in the very process of
development, and that modern poverty is a form of development-induced
scarcity. If this is true, our view of poverty must be radically altered to include its
epistemology-that is, the intellect of "how we know poverty." This position is
clarified with an example from agriculturalmodernization, using a story about the
Green Revolution and its epistemic transformationfrom seeds of plenty to seeds
of scarcity.
Key words: improved seeds, Green Revolution, nexus of production relations,
epistemology, scarcity, poverty.
The dismal record of official develop- a household is unable to satisfy its basic
ment theory during the last four decades needs for food, clothing, shelter, health
has led some scholars to believe that care, and functional literacy. By economic
poverty could be eradicated better development, I refer to efforts to improve
through the self-conscious efforts of the "standards of living" through ever-higher
poor themselves-i.e., through social levels of production and consumption of
movements of community empowerment. material goods and services-that is,
Some of the interest in self-help and social through an accelerated growth in GNP.
movements has grown out of frustration The term "development" is also used to
with failed development and a desire to cover all institutions, values, and eco-
"somehow do something" as a practical nomic theories that conceive, support,
way out of the impasse (Durning 1989).
and implement this process. In this paper
These efforts need support from academ-
I have refrained from producing a precise
ics, but such help must proceed from an
understanding of why development has definition of the term "development"
failed to alleviate poverty. I argue that because that would not do justice to its
many meanings. My plan is to deal with a
poverty is not about failed development,
poor technology, lack of resources, mis- specific meaning of the term that would
management, or poor planning, but rather emerge in a story about improved seeds
that it represents a routine, everyday, and modern agriculture. Of course, the
full exposition of the argument of modern
normal manifestation of the very process
of economic development; indeed, devel- poverty as development-induced scarcity
would require many other analyses-of
opment has caused modern poverty.
By poverty, I mean a situation in which nutrition, health care, housing, clothing,
literacy, transport, and so on.
There are three principal paradigms
within the discourse on economic devel-
* I wish to thankSuzannePetersonof Deasy opment: (1) neoclassical economic theo-
GeoGraphics,PennsylvaniaState University, ries of underdevelopment concerning
for the graphic. overpopulation, transfer of technology,
254

WHAT ARE IMPROVED SEEDS? 255
and the diffusion of development; (2) points of other paradigms, such as political
neo-Marxist theories of uneven develop- economy and ecology. The different para-
ment concerned with imperialism, depen- digms, each with its own "way of know-
dency, and world systems; and (3) the ing," direct our attention to many other
environmentalist conception of sustain- attributes of seeds besides their high
able development. Despite profound dif- yields, and provide important new mean-
ferences in their world views, these three ings to the question, "What are improved
paradigms share the central belief that seeds?" By moving beyond a view of
poverty arises from lack of development seeds as material things to one of seeds as
or underdevelopment, a condition that the material embodiment of a nexus of
can be eradicated with more develop- interacting relations (social, ecological,
ment. The contrary notion that develop- and so on), we can understand how the
ment creates scarcity calls for a basic new seeds have come to be a means for
rethinking of the "poverty problem." We the domination of people and nature, and
need to rethink what we mean when we how this technology can both create and
say "Bangladesh is a basket-case of pov- destroy use values at the same time.
erty." We need to examine the suggestive The story of the epistemic transforma-
power that geographic boundaries may tion of the Green Revolution, from seeds
have on where we locate the poverty of plenty to seeds of scarcity, is important
problem. I argue that the "problem" in another respect; it gives us a deeper
should no longer be confined to the place understanding of the nature of the para-
where we see the tangible, physical digms themselves-their assumptions,
evidence of poverty, but that it should the origins of their language, and their
include the very intellect that helped us strengths, limits, and limitations. Even as
conceptualize poverty in the first place. paradigms inform us about the nature of
This leaves us in a serious predicament, seeds, seeds inform us about the nature of
because the academic tools at our com- academic paradigms. A seed is an indissol-
mand-that is, the paradigms of develop- uble nexus of relations, but it was
ment and the epistemology of poverty- improved, bred, and studied through an
pose an obstacle to the solution by epistemology of ahistorical, subject-spe-
distorting our understanding of the prob- cific disciplines and paradigms.1 Here lies
lem. An elaboration of this argument is the crux of my argument about economic
the principal subject of the paper. development: the fragmented nature of
I shall make the more general argument the discourse prevents us from seeing the
of development-induced social scarcity by paradox of how improved seeds can
narrating a particular story about high- provide high yields and create scarcity at
yielding seeds, a story that begins in the the same time. Observers of development
late 1970s with my association in an effort projects in the Third World may recog-
to promote the speedy diffusion of hybrid nize that the story of improved seeds told
maize in the State of Karnataka, India. here is not exceptional.
The new seeds (once called miracle seeds)
were, and still are, widely understood to
be a beneficent technology that dramati- Nexus of Production Relations
cally increases agricultural output-a sig- The principal analytical scheme used in
nificant technological breakthrough in our this paper is the nexus of production rela-
fight against hunger in the Third World; tions. Production is an economic activity
that is the official version of the story of only in the narrowest sense of that word,
the Green Revolution, inspired by the
writings of neoclassical economists. How-
ever, these same seeds reveal a consider- 1
Epistemology is that branch of philosophy
ably more complex and contradictory dealing with the conditions of knowing-that
character when viewed from the vantage is, how do we know what we know.

256 ECONOMIc GEOGRAPHY
because it includes far more than technol-

ogy, goods, and markets. Production is de- ACADEMIC CULTURAL
termined at once within a web of rela-
tions -technical, social, ecological, cultural,
and academic-whose understandingis dis-
torted by subject-specific views of reduc-
tionist science (Fig. 1).2 These relations
should not be conceived as discrete, ana- TECHNICAL ECOLOGICAL
lytical categories, nor is the list meant to

be exhaustive.3 The relations are dialecti-
cal, in that they act and react upon each SOCIAL
other constantly to maintaina dynamic pro-
cess of production: analytically, there are Figure 1. The nexusof productionrelations
no visible seams between any two of them. of improvedseeds.
In a historical sense, the relations are also
mutually constituted. An entity that ap-
pears to be technological from one angle, during any outcome, some can be shown
or point in time, may be thought of as ac- to be nonessential to its occurrence while
ademic or social from another angle or dif- others can be shown to be the essence, or
ferent point in time, or what appears to be the essential causes (Graham 1990, 1992).
academic may be better treated with lan- Peet (1992) has objected to the position of
guage that is social or cultural, and so on. nonessentialism by insisting that the re-
Non-orthodoxMarxiantheory describes the fusal to separate the essential from nones-
notion of the nexus of relations with the sential leads to indecision and weakens the
term "overdetermination," meaning that base of political activism. It is difficult to
-every process is determined simulta- judge the validity of such objections with-
neously by every other process in society out considering historically specific, con-
(Resnick and Wolff 1989, 1-37). crete situations. My own story of im-
The concept of overdetermination stands proved seeds will testify that the
opposed to essentialism, which is the "pre- nonessentialist approach of the nexus of
sumption that complex realities of any sort relations has actually expanded the scope
are ultimately reducible to simpler, or es- of activism in the food politics of South
sential, realities";among the influences pro- Asia. While lack of access to land remains
an important cause of hunger, the scarcity
of food in South Asia is orchestratedthrough
a bewildering array of mechanisms reach-
2I have borrowed the term "production ing beyond social relations of land owner-
relations" and the dialectical mode of reason-
ship into cultural, ecological, political, and
ing from Marx (1989 [1869]). However, I have
extended the meaning of the term "production academic realms (Fig. 1). Each node in the
relations" beyond the "social," its original nexus where scarcity is constructed also
usage. I have consciously tried to avoid the provides a site for mounting political re-
problems of the Marxianscheme of associating sistance, multiplying the scope for activ-
social relations with the economic base, and ism; however, the agents of such activism
matters of culture, knowledge, and ideology and the choice of strategies may drastically
with the superstructure. I explore the interac- differ from one node to another.4
tions among these relations without any The phrase "technical relations of pro-
concern for which may be more determinate
or "essential."
3 Though it may be useful to explicitly
recognize a relation called political, particu- ' An elaboration of the claim that the
larly to deal with activities of the state, I have concept of the nexus of relations expands the
dealt with that topic in this paper under the arena of political activism is beyond the scope
heading of social relations. of this paper.

duction" refers to a concept similar to develop this article by successively focus-

Marx's forces of production, in which he ing on each relation to unpack the ways
included raw materials, resources, labor, we think about high-yielding improved
and technology used in production (Marx seeds.
1989 [1869]). I prefer the term "technical The Green Revolution provides a good
relations" to call attention to the fact that illustration of the concept of the nexus of
attributes of production forces are deter- productionrelations.The term "Green Rev-
mined in a larger context (i.e., by other olution" has been attributed to William
relations) in which production occurs. The Gaud of the United States Agency for In-
term "social relations of production" is ternational Development in a speech given
used in a manner identical to its use in to the Society for International Develop-
Marxian economics, where it refers to ment in March 1968 (Spitz 1987). Gaud
ownership of the means of production, the alluded to the possibility of a green tech-
manner in which the means of production nical revolution in food production as coun-
are utilized, and the rules for the social terposed to a red political revolution. In
distribution of the final product (Marx December 1969, the Green Revolution was
1989 [1869]). Production requires matter presented to the U.S. Congress as a major
and energy as input and a repository to tool of American foreign policy that pro-
hold waste materials, chemicals, and heat, vided bright market prospects to the pes-
setting in motion a myriad of interactions ticide, fertilizer, seed, and tractor indus-
with the biophysical environment-"the tries (Spitz 1987; Cleaver 1973).
ecological relations of production." The
phrase "cultural relations of production"
refers to the mutual interactions between Diffusionism and
economy and culture, in particular the Technical Relations
interaction of production with "the ways
of life" of social groups as embodied in The mainstreamconventional view of un-
shared meaning, beliefs, values, and sym- derdevelopment sees a poor country as hav-
bols. "Academic relations of production" ing a dual economy, consisting of a dy-
are of two kinds: one is the use of science namic, modern sector and a static,
and research in the development of traditional sector. The static sector lacks
production forces, and the other is the savings, investment, capital, and infrastruc-
construction of models and language used ture, an imbalance which can be corrected
in social theories of production. For by the movement (diffusion) of capital,
example, neoclassical economics and know-how, and information from the dy-
Marxism can be distinguished by the namic sector. This two-sector model of de-
categories, models, methods, language, velopment, prominent throughout the
and habits of thought (epistemology) they 1960s and 1970s, viewed poverty partly as
employ. Concepts such as "overpopula- a technical matter arising from the lack of
tion, resources, progressive farmers, capital and technical know-how. This ap-
"surplus value," and "exploitation" reveal proach enjoyed an unrivaled dominance
as much about the value premises of within mainstream geography for several
academics as they do about the external decades, as evidenced by the profusion of
world they are supposed to signify. studies on growth poles, central places, re-
Academic descriptions of production are gional inequality, diffusion of moderniza-
not necessarily impartial and neutral, tion, diffusion of innovations, and so on
because values, assumptions, objectives, (Soja 1968; Gould 1969; Berry, Conkling,
models, and language of representation and Ray 1976; Rondinelli and Ruddle 1978;
are all thoroughly influenced by the entire Gore 1984; Brown 1981).
nexus of production relations, an argu- A useful point of departure for this
ment that has important implications for essay is Hagerstrand's (1967) book on
the academic discourse on poverty. I shall spatial diffusion, where he described the

258 ECONoMic GEOGRAPHY
spread of a series of innovations in an and location in space were further con-

agricultural community in southern Swe- firmed during later field visits to several
den-the adoption of grazing improve- villages in the study area. I cannot recall
ment subsidies, bovine tuberculosis con- meeting a single local person who was not
trol, and soil mapping on farms. He aware of the new varieties of corn being
formulated the theory that innovations grown in that area. I took special care to
spread in a community through a network engage farmers who had not adopted
of interpersonal contacts, where the like- hybrid maize; I learned that several had
lihood of adoption is higher at a site in the carefully considered the new package of
neighborhood of a previous adopter. Data innovations and decided against it for
were drawn on personal interaction over what appeared to be very rational reasons.
space to construct a mean information Some told me they could not afford to
field (a person's average pattern of con- adopt because they had no access to
tacts over space), which was programmed irrigated land necessary for the cultivation
to simulate the spread of an innovation of the new varieties. Many "nonadopters"
using Monte Carlo random number tech- I met did not fit the psychological profiles
niques. constructed by rural sociologists of "lag-
Several geographers have applied Hag- gards" and "late adopters."5 Because of
erstrand's simulation model to problems these impressions, we abandoned the
of development. Among those applica- simulations and reanalyzed the adoption
tions was a study of the diffusion of hybrid data using a different approach. The
maize in the State of Karnataka,India, in farmers were first divided into two groups
the mid-1970s initiated by Mayfield. This of adopters and nonadopters, and data
included collecting a large body of data on were organized into three sets of variables
the spatial patterns of communication in that were known to impact adoption of
several villages, with the intent of con- innovations: (1) access to information; (2)
structing a "mean information field" to be behavioral variables of the type that rural
used in a Monte Carlo simulation of the sociologists deemed important for adop-
spread of hybrid maize (Mayfield and tion; and (3) resource variables, such as
Yapa 1974). I was invited to join the access to irrigated land and credit. A
project because of my previous experi- statistical discriminant analysis was used
ence in modeling diffusion. Using data on to ascertain the set of factors that was best
interpersonal interaction, we constructed able to separate adopters from nonadopt-
a mean information field, following Hag- ers (Yapa and Mayfield 1978). As we had
erstrand, and performed computer simu- come to suspect, the set of variables
lations of the spread of hybrid maize over describing farmers' access to resources
a five-year period under varying assump- had a higher discriminant index than the
tions of contact probabilities. Following other two groups. Almost simultaneously,
the work of rural sociologists (Rogers similar findings emerged from the investi-
1969, 294-99; Lionberger 1960), we also gations at the Center for South Asian
incorporated the notion of psychological Studies at Cambridge University, where
resistance to adoption by assuming a the reasons for nonadoption of high-
Gaussian distribution, as suggested. In all, yielding varieties of rice in Tamil Nadu,
we did hundreds of computer runs of the India, and in southern Sri Lanka had been
spread of hybrid maize. None of the examined (Farmer 1977).
simulated patterns resembled the actual
ones. This led us to question the validity
of a hypothesis that had assigned such a 5A laggard was described as a person who
central role to contact probabilities in does not adopt an innovation or is the last to do
space. so. They are believed to be conservative,
Our doubts regarding the central role generally older, not cosmopolitan, and mis-
HIagerstrandhad assigned to information trustful of new ideas (Rogers 1969, 295-98).

The simulation of hybrid maize in simply a new technology to increase food
Karnataka shows an approach typical of production. There was no serious discus-
the kinds of studies carried out within the sion of the structure of social relations and
diffusionist paradigm of development. An systems of social practices through which
examination of the assumptions behind innovations filter, nor of the consequences
our work on hybrid maize reveals the of the adoption of an innovation (Gregory
"essentialist nature" of this thinking. The 1985, 304). This was a crucial mistake,
starting point was the introduction of because interpersonal economic differ-
hybrid maize in the study area. No ences and class play important roles in
questions were asked about the nature of determining who adopts what in rural
hybrid maize or who developed it in the areas of the Third World (Blaut 1987;
first place and why. Since hybrid maize Griffin 1974; Yapa and Mayfield 1978). As
gave yields superior to those of traditional I will describe later, diffusionist thinking
varieties, we assumed that the adoption of also ignored ecological, cultural, and
the new was rational and, conversely, that academic relations of innovations. Some
nonadoption meant a lack of awareness or diffusionists dealt with the topic of culture
resistance to new ideas. Despite visible extensively, but that was in the firm belief
evidence to the contrary, we also pro- that traditional values and folkways of
ceeded with the common assumption that villagers posed obstacles to the modern-
potential adopters belong to a relatively ization of agriculture and rural society
homogeneous class of farmers, a view to (Lerner 1958; Rogers 1969; Rostow 1960).
which Blaut (1977, 1987) has repeatedly
objected.
The main assumption of the diffusionist Political Economy and
paradigm is that underdevelopment is Social Relations
caused by an inadequate development of
production forces, a situation that can be The diffusion work in Karnataka,India,
corrected by the diffusion of capital, shows the need to pay attention to
know-how, and technological innovations. people's access to resources, or what
This was also the underlying thinking in Marxists call the social relations of pro-
the promotion of high-yielding seeds of duction. Griffin (1974) has made a persua-
the Green Revolution. Regional prosper- sive argument to this effect with his
ity was to emerge from the expansion of model of biased innovations: capital-
food production following the widespread intensive innovations in the package of
adoption of the new technical package: high-yielding seeds soon acquired a land-
seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, and pump- lord bias in the fragmented factor markets
sets for irrigation. Accelerated develop- of India.
ment of production forces was the diffu- Inspired by such writers as Baran (1957)
sionist answer to underdevelopment. and Frank (1970), the radical political
Using the language of the nexus of economists first pointed out the shallow-
relations, it may be argued that the ness of the paradigm of spatial diffusion in
diffusionist paradigm viewed technical geography (de Souza and Porter 1974).
relations as the essential core of the Slater (1973, 1977) argued that underde-
problem.6 The high-yielding seeds were velopment, or the arrested state of devel-
opment of production forces, is a normal
manifestation of capitalist relations of
6 Strictly speaking, the diffusionists were production. As a corollary to this critique,
concerned with production forces, and not an argument termed "the nondiffusion of
with production forces as relations interacting innovations" was developed, which held
with social, ecological, cultural, and academic that privileged access to resources deter-
realms, which is what I mean by the term mines who does, and who does not, adopt
"technical relations." innovations. It stated that adoption and

nonadoption can occur simultaneously in condition of the transformation of

the same geographic space at different society. . . . Socialism is no better than
levels of society (Blaut 1987; Yapa and capitalism if it makes use of the same
Mayfield 1978). Incorporating social rela- tools. The total domination of nature
tions of production in diffusion processes inevitably entails a domination of people
increases our knowledge and reveals the by the techniques of domination." Advo-
limits of neoclassical models of develop- cates of appropriate technology claim that
ment, with their emphasis on capital and low-cost, affordable technologies already
technical inputs. exist for capturing use values created by
Despite the insights offered by radical nature in the area of food production,
political economy, the framework has nutrition, health, and construction (Dar-
limits when directed at other areas of the row and Saxenian 1986). Regrettably, this
Green Revolution in South Asia. There is literature has been virtually ignored in
little guidance in political economy for both radical and mainstream geography
understanding the relational aspects of journals.
technology: Why does technology follow a The radical critique of Green Revolu-
particular path and not another? Do tion agriculture focused on the role of
certain kinds of technology favor the capitalist farming in the exacerbation of
emergence of centralized social relations? class and regional income inequalities
What are the ecological and cultural through the uneven adoption of high-
relations of different kinds of technolo- yielding seeds (Griffin 1974; Yapa and
gies? And why, for example, does the idea Mayfield 1978; Hewitt de Alcantara 1976;
persist that the knowledge of peasants Pearse 1980). Political economy provides
who have raised food for thousands of a new answer to the question, "What are
years has no value in modern agriculture? seeds?": it is a technology that produces
In other words, political economy lacks a higher yields, but it confers these benefits
critical social theory of technology. One unequally to different classes. Missing
possible reason for this may be that the from that critique, however, were other
intellectual legacy of classical Marxism has important analyses. For example, what
shown an uncritical enthusiasm for the are the potential technological choices
quantitative development of production available to a society at any given time;
forces. The Communist Manifesto contains why are certain paths chosen over others;
several passages praising the progressive and what are the cultural and ecological
role played by the bourgeoisie in unleash- implications of this high-input model of
ing the powers of industry, agriculture, agriculture (Glaeser 1987).
transport, and communication.
Even today, most radical political econ-
omists give little attention to the qualita- Sustainability and
tive attributes of production forces; Ecological Relations
hence, their continued inattention to
topics such as appropriate technology and For the most part, production involves
sustainable agriculture. This has pre- the transformation of material into use
vented political economy from exploring values through the application of informa-
the impact of production forces on social tion, energy, and labor. Production uses
relations and the potential role technology the ecosystem not only as a source of
can play in changing social relations. energy and matter but also as a repository
Bookchin (1986), Illich (1973, 1978), and of waste products, thus continually defin-
Gorz (1980) have all commented at great ing a myriad of interactions within the
length on these issues. According to Gorz biophysical environment. These are eco-
(1980, 20), "the techniques on which the logical relations of production.
economic system is based are not neutral. The current concern with ecology is
. . The inversion of tools is a fundamental driven largely by issues of environmental

degradation that have led to the destruc- dies were being damaged by the brown
tion of the physical conditions of produc- leafhopper, previously a pest of only
tion (Brown, Flavin, and Postel 1991; O' minor importance, because of the greater
Connor 1988), a concern that may be resistance of the traditional varieties (Bull
described as a reactive stance. But an 1982, 13). Crop diseases caused by inten-
equally important, "proactive" reason for sive monocropping of genetically uniform
studying ecology is to create knowledge varieties have been aggravated by pesti-
that allows people to directly harness use cide use (Conway and Barbier 1990, 21;
values created in nature.7 Examples of Shiva 1991, 99).
such techniques include biological control The developments in South Asia were
of crop diseases and biological sources of part of a general worldwide moderniza-
crop nutrients. Exploration of these ideas tion of agriculture. A mode of chemical
serves the added purpose of illuminating agriculture accompanied the new hybrid
how development has created social scar- seeds. Pesticide use was about 2,300
city. million kilograms around 1985, with the
Third World consuming about 15 percent,
a share that is continuing to grow rapidly
Destruction of the (Bull 1982, 6). The indiscriminate and
Conditions of Production widespread use of pesticides destroys the
My first appreciation of the ecological pests' natural enemies, with the pests
problems arising from the cultivation of themselves genetically evolving into more
high-yielding new seeds came during field pesticide-resistant forms, which in turn
visits to the Devanahalli district of Karna- necessitates the use of new and more
taka. There I learned of an outbreak of powerful pesticides (Van den Bosch 1978).
corn stem-borer, which some farmers said The increasing dependence on pesticides
was new to the area. Soon the technology has been described as the "pesticide
of hybridization itself was implicated in treadmill." Likewise, the long-term use of
the problem. The vulnerability of the new chemical fertilizer, accompanied by a
hybrids to a variety of pests and diseases, reduced use of organic matter, has ad-
an area of concern which came to be versely affected soil quality and increased
known as the "second generation prob- soil erosion (National Research Council
lem," was not clearly recognized at first. It 1989). To counteract the consequent
was soon understood that genetically decline in yields, farmers are forced to
uniform varieties of rice, wheat, and corn apply more fertilizer, in what Merril
grown in monocultural stands were vul- (1976) has called the "vicious cycle of
nerable to pests and pathogens, a fact that chemical agriculture." Shiva (1991, 104)
was dramatically demonstrated in 1970 reports the following image from Punjab,
when some 15 percent of the U.S. corn "the bread basket of India": "Twenty
crop was lost to a leaf blight. A genetic years of Green Revolution agriculture,
factor (Type T cytoplasm) built into hybrid have succeeded in destroying the fertility
corn to eliminate the labor-intensive tasks of Punjab soils which had been main-
of manual detassling was believed to be tained over generations of centuries and
the cause of corn's vulnerability to this could have been indefinitely maintained if
blight (Kloppenburg 1988, 121-23). In the international experts and their Indian
early 1980s, there were reports from followers had not mistakenly believed that
South and Southeast Asia that rice pad- . . . chemicals could replace the organic
fertility of the soil."
In South Asia, there is also widespread
7The term "proactive" to describe this evidence that fertilizer and pesticide
aspect of ecology was suggested to me by runoff have contaminated groundwater
Margaret FitzSimmons at the University of and streams. The fish and crab popula-
California at Los Angeles. tions that lived in rice paddies, an

262 ECONOMICGEOGRAPHY
important source of protein for the poor, Over thousands of years farmers partic-
have rapidly declined, or have become ipated in the selection and improvement
unsafe to eat (Bull 1982, 63-64). Poor of seeds for food, fodder, and fibre.
farmers working knee-deep in the rice However, during the last 50 years a large
paddy mud do not wear protective cloth- industry has grown up around the sale of
ing, gloves, or boots. Moreover, in regions improved seed; in the mid-1980s, it was a
without indoor plumbing or water purifi- worldwide market of nearly $45 billion
cation plants, farmers wash themselves in (Doyle 1986, 33). The capacity of seeds to
water from the fields, streams, and naturally reproduce themselves had acted
irrigation channels, which now carry as a barrier to the entry of capital into
unsafe levels of chemical contaminants. In developing improved seed, but tech-
the context of South Asian farming the niques such as hybridization helped capi-
very use of the word "environment" can tal cross this threshold. Some have
be misleading, because, physically speak- suggested that the very choice of this
ing, the farmers are an inseparable and technique depended on its potential to
integral part of "the environment"; it is transform seeds into a commodity (Levins
quite harmful to describe the condition of and Lewontin 1985; Kloppenburg 1988).
contaminated water as an "externality." It is useful to recall the now familiar story
One might well ask in what sense of hybrid corn: corn reproduces itself
contaminated water becomes an "exter- through both self- and cross-pollination. A
nality" when farmers have to drink, wash, variety of corn can be selected for
bathe, and work in it. Thus what we have particular traits, and by inbreeding it
in hybrid seeds is not simply a technique (self-pollination) over several generations
of increasing food production, but also the a pure inbred line can be developed. The
emergence of a mode of production that is yield of such an inbred line is poor,
destroying the productive base of subsis- however. Several decades ago, American
tence. crop breeders discovered that a high-
yielding hybrid corn can be obtained by
crossing two pure inbred lines, due to a
The Social Construction of Scarcity phenomenon known as heterosis or hy-
A common assumption of development brid vigor. The commercially available
theory is that people and places are poor hybrid seeds are produced by double-
because they lack resources; however, a crossing two previous hybrids. Corn
reasonable case can be made that, in raised from hybrid seeds cannot be saved
many instances, modern technologies and used as seed for future planting
have contributed to scarcity by destroying because their yields are erratic and poor.
existing sources of supply and creating This means that farmers have to purchase
demands for new ones.8 Ecological rela- seed from seed companies every year.
tions of improved seeds provide an This is an example of the social construc-
excellent example of this argument be- tion of scarcity, a design built into the
cause they have served to replace the very development of hybrids. Of the
sustainable "reproductive capacity" of techniques available for the general im-
local agriculture with the "productive provement of crop yield, hybridization
capacity" of nonrenewable industrial in- was chosen partly for its capacity to
puts (Shiva 1991). suppress the key function of reproduction,
thus creating a social scarcity that would
be magnified later in the context of poor
8 In
making this point, I do not in any way farmers in the Third World.
wish to be misunderstood as making a Julian Another aspect of scarcity is that
Simon-type of argument about unlimited improved seeds do not increase yields by
resources and the planet's "vast growth poten- themselves. To quote from Shiva's essay
tial" (Simon and Kahn 1984). on Punjab (1991, 46): "The strategy of the

Green Revolution . . . put new demands hazards, chemicals are also expensive,
on scarce renewable resources and gener- their use has increased the dependence of
ated new demands for non-renewable Third World farmers on international
resources. The Green Revolution technol- capital, and their continued use over time
ogy requires heavy investments in fertiliz- has increased the demand for these
ers, pesticides, seed, water and energy." products. The pesticide industry-that is,
Increasingly an important source of its research, development, and market-
fertilizer nitrogen is that obtained from ing-has had the effect of underdevelop-
industrial fixation. In most fertilizer ing the emergence of alternative tech-
plants, hydrogen is obtained from meth- niques, which include: biological control
ane in natural gas. Ammonia production is through prey-predator relationships; cul-
thus expensive in terms of energy-rich tural methods, such as crop rotation,
fossil fuels. The world production of multiple cropping, and companion plant-
nitrogen fertilizer rose from about 6.5 ing, that alter the environment by making
million metric tons in 1955 to 67.5 million it less suitable for pests; and crop
metric tons in 1984 (Cox and Atkins 1979, breeding programs that develop disease-
313-14; Food and Agriculture Organiza- resistant plants. Indeed, of all the tech-
tion 1984). In 1984 developing countries niques mentioned above those that have
accounted for more than 40 percent of the had the most support are the chemical
world's consumption of nitrogen fertilizer ones, because they create the most
(Food and Agriculture Organization 1984). exchange value. Many of the alternative
The widespread use of chemical nitrogen techniques mentioned, particularly the
also contributed indirectly to increasing biological methods, work with natural
scarcity by reducing the supply of natu- cycles in the ecosystem by taking advan-
rally available organic nitrogen. It had the tage of biological processes. They repre-
effect of underdeveloping knowledge of sent little cost to the user, but their
biological sources of nitrogen related to development can be expensive because
crop rotation, multiple cropping, incorpo- more sophisticated biocontrol requires
ration of nitrogen rich legumes in agricul- much skill and funds. Even though more
tural production, use of agricultural and than 20,000 serious pest are known,
plant remains, and application of animal natural enemies are known for less than
manure (King 1973 [1911]; Howard 1973 10 percent. Entomologist Paul Debach
[1940]). Azolla, a fern grown in association (quoted in Nebel 1981, 428-29) believes
with rice paddy, is an important source of that this research is underfunded because
natural nitrogen (Office of Technology biological methods do not generate profits
Assessment 1985). Other strategies for the way synthetic chemicals do.
reducing the use of chemical nitrogen
include the growing of plants that require Concept of End-use Rationality
less nitrogen or have a higher capacity for
fixing nitrogen in root nodules. Another useful way to conceptualize
The widespread and growing use of the social origin of scarcity is to consider
chemical pesticides is another example of the end-use to which a technology is put
the social construction of resource scar- (Lovins 1977). The concept of end-use
city. Pesticides cause the large-scale de- rationality involves the careful matching
struction of nontarget populations, the of resources and technology to particular
genetic evolution of pesticide-resistant uses so as to minimize waste of material
organisms, the contamination of water and and energy. To illustrate this idea, con-
agricultural produce, the reduction of soil sider the energy required to produce
organisms that maintain the quality of nitrogen fertilizer: a pound of factory-
humus in the soil; moreover, they pose produced fertilizer requires about 19,700
health risks to agricultural workers. Apart British thermal units of energy, while a
from what are very serious environmental pound of biological nitrogen obtained by

plowing in a legume would use about (1984, 43) described the term "culture" in
2,700 British thermal units (Commoner the following way:
1977, 156). According to these figures, the
Cross-cutting and underlying . . . all
expenditure of the extra 17,000 Btus anthropological studies is the notion of
represents a saving unavailable with fac- "culture." A dynamic blueprint or design
tory-produced nitrogen (creation of scar- for living, culture is learned behavior
city). handed down through generations so that
End-use logic has application in every each new cohort of babies in a society does
area of technology: food, nutrition, agri- not have to start again from scratch. To
culture, manufacturing, health care, hous- some degree, what agricultural scientists
ing construction, transport, and educa- call tradition is the anthropologist's culture.
tion. In fact, the adoption of this principle Rhodes's remarks about agriculturalscien-
in the context of underdevelopment and tists' conception of culture as tradition is
poverty gives new meaning to the terms crucial to understanding the cultural
resources," "technology," and "capital." relations of the Green Revolution. Im-
End-use analysis begins with the needed proved seeds arrived in the villages of
use value and looks for the most direct India carrying the authority of science and
way of satisfying it by using the minimum modernity. The new seeds -sponsored by
amounts of energy, material, and trans- international aid agencies, developed by
port. This is called matching sources to crop-breeding science, backed by multi-
end-uses. Thus the terms "resources," national agribusiness capital, approved by
"technology," and "capital" have no uni- the Government of India, and promoted
versal meaning in the absence of a by an army of trained extension workers -
concrete end-use analysis of a given presented a formidable power that con-
region. Indeed, the physical geography of fronted peasant farmers living in their
a region, its ecology, people's knowledge "traditional culture of poverty."
of plants and animals, are all part of the Chambers (1983, 76) described this
resource base." unequal encounter of modernity and
To return to the epistemic question: tradition in an essay entitled "Whose
What are improved seeds? Ecological Knowledge?":
relations offer another level of meaning.
Political economy had taught us that seeds From rich-country professionals and urban-
have technical attributes that bias their based professionals in the third world
adoption by social class and region. These countries right down to the lowliest exten-
sion workers it is a common assumption that
same technical attributes also define
the modern scientific knowledge of the
modern agriculture's relation to nature by centre is sophisticated, advanced and valid,
degrading the long-term capacity of the and conversely, that whatever rural people
land to provide people's sustenance. may know will be unsystematic, imprecise,
Moreover, through the destruction of superficial and often plain wrong. Develop-
actual and potential use values created in ment then entails disseminating this mod-
nature, the same technical attributes ern, scientific and sophisticated knowledge
"re-present" themselves to people, but to inform and uplift the rural masses.
this time as social scarcity. Knowledge flows in one direction only -
downwards - from those who are strong,
educated and enlightened, towards those
who are weak, ignorant and in darkness.
Tradition and Cultural Relations To the centuries-long colonial view of
Modern Encounter with Tradition peasant agriculture as primitive was added
the "modernization" literature of the 1960s
Cultural relations of production refer to and 1970s, which set out to transform "back-
the mutual interactions between culture ward" traditional culture, the principal ob-
and economy. The anthropologist Rhodes stacle to adoption of innovations and the

diffusionof development (Rogers 1969; Dal- spread of European colonialism and cul-
ton 1971; Rostow 1960; Lerner 1958; Lewis ture was seen as scientifically correct and
1962). It is important to recognize that, morally justifiable because the landscapes
despite the extensive empirical work done and cultures into which these things were
to support it, the concept of traditionalcul- inserted were seen, in one sense or
ture as backward has not been established another, as empty. Support for Blaut's
as a matter of empirical fact. It is an elab- argument comes from the recent litera-
orate academic representation of "the ture on traditional agricultural technology
other," an intellectual construction which (Altieri and Anderson 1986). Based on
actually reflects the values of sociologists surveys of traditional farming conducted
immersed in the dominant world view of at several sites in southern Mexico and
capitalist culture. There is no objective ref- Middle America, Wilken (1987) described
erent in the external world called "back- traditional resource management tech-
ward traditional culture" that is indepen- niques in energy supply, soil classifica-
dent of the intellect that constructed it (Said tion, and the management of soil, water,
1979). This conception of traditional cul- slope, and space. An important point
ture tells us as much about the nature of made by Wilken is that traditional tools
development sociology (the self as it does and techniques are not easily duplicated,
about peasant culture (the other). because most traditional technology re-
quires understanding local conditions and
Indigenous Knowledge ways of managing local energy and mate-
rials. Harrison (1987) reports from Africa
I have used the term "traditional" to on a wide array of indigenous, traditional
mean a community where the conduct of techniques for soil conservation, water
activity and the transfer of knowledge is use, and agro-forestry that have been
based on experiences transmitted from one successful in local areas but often are
generation to another (Wilken 1987). The unknown to people in neighboring val-
process of knowledge transfer in tradi- leys. Harrison calls for the diffusion of a
tional cultures is informal and oral. This is new green revolution in Africa that
perhaps one reason why traditional socie- carefully incorporates the better tradi-
ties are perceived as being non-innova- tional practices, reiterating an argument
tive; another reason is that innovations are made earlier by Richards (1985), who
often subtle and low cost. Several promi- writes about indigenous agriculture in
nent students of "traditional"agriculture West Africa. Other writing that has
have written persuasively about the com- argued the importance of paying attention
plexity and longevity of mixed farming that to indigenous knowledge systems in-
incorporatedanimals, manure, and crop ro- cludes: Brokensha, Warren, and Werner
tation-for example, F. H. King (1973 (1980); Chambers, Pacey, and Thrupp
[1911]) of the U.S. Department of Agricul- (1989); Chambers (1983); Altieri (1987);
ture and Sir Albert Howard (1973 [1940]). and Geertz (1963).
Among geographers the most preeminent The modernization literature on diffui-
student of traditionalagriculture was Sauer sion in the Third World profoundly misrep-
(1963 [1938], 1952), who was quite em- resented and misinterpreted traditionalso-
phatic in his condemnation of the Rocke- cieties as backwardand non-innovative.This
feller Foundation proposal in the early cultural bias, abetted in part by academics,
1940s to modernize Mexican agriculture affected public policy and the course of dif-
Jennings 1988, 50-55). fusionof agriculturalinnovations.This is now
In his "uniformitarian"critique of diffu- formally recognized as a mistake, and ef-
sionism, Blaut (1987) offered an excellent fortsare being made to systematicallyrecord
discussion of how and why we have in the knowledge of traditional cropping tech-
past perceived traditional cultures to be niques, control of crop and animal diseases,
non-innovative. Blaut noted that the use of organic fertilizers, soil conservation,

and so on in a program conducted by The The different varieties are adapted to

Center for Indigenous Knowledge of Agri- the conditions of traditional agriculture,
culture and RuralDevelopment (CIKARD), such as low soil fertility and low yields,
established in 1987 at the Iowa State Uni- and show a general correlation to the
versity. Warren (1990, 1), the director of vertical zonation of Andean mountain
CIKARD, defines indigenous knowledge as ecology.'0 The Andean potato culture has
follows: been studied intensively in the Mantaro
Indigenousknowledge(1K)is local knowl- Valley in the central highlands of Peru,
edge-knowledge that is unique to a given about 200 kilometers east of Lima. Here
culture or society. It contrasts with the potatoes are grown at elevations between
internationalknowledge system generated 3,000 and 4,200 meters (approximately
by universities, research institutions and 9,900 to 13,900 feet). Commercial produc-
privatefirms.IK is the basis for local-level tion based on "improved varieties" is
decision-making in agriculture,healthcare, carried on in the lower valleys, where
food preparation,education, natural re- growing conditions are optimal at eleva-
sources management,and a host of other tions below 3,600 meters due to lack of
activitiesin ruralcommunities.Suchknowl- frost. The region of subsistence-oriented
edge is passed down from generationto
generation,in many societies by word of potato farming of traditional varieties,
mouth.Indigenousknowledgehas valuenot which uses little or no external inputs of
only for the culturein whichit evolves,but chemicals and energy, lies above 3,600
also for scientists and plannersstrivingto meters. This region can be subdivided
improveconditionsin rurallocalities. into two zones: between 3,600 and 3,900
meters is the zone of easy-to-cook nonbit-
Andean Potato Farmers ter potatoes, and above 3,900 meters is
the zone of the bitter, frost-resistant
A good example of the wider implica- varieties, which are converted into several
tions of modernization of traditional agri- dehydrated products through an inge-
culture comes from the Andean High- nious process of freeze-drying (Heiser
lands of Peru. Archaeologists believe that 1990, 136). According to Horton (1987,
potatoes were first cultivated in the 134), farmers plant several plots (the
central Andes, and that their domestica- average is four) in different ecological
tion may have begun almost 10,000 years niches in order to minimize the risk of
ago (Brush, Carney, and Huaman 1981, total crop failure. Small farmers in the
71). It is not surprising that the Andes are higher areas have achieved a stable food
reported to contain the richest gene pool supply by using their knowledge of plants
for potatoes, estimated by geneticists at and place to grow native varieties resis-
2,000-3,000 varieties. The Andean farm- tant to frost and hail, without using
ers possess highly developed systems for chemical fertilizers and pesticides (Horton
classifying potatoes that have enabled 1987, 134-35).
them to observe, select, and propagate Since 1950, systematic efforts have
many varieties over large, diverse areas. been made to modernize the potato
There are also well-developed trading culture of the Andean Highlands. By the
networks for exchange and sale of seed mid-1980s in Mantaro Valley over 65
potatoes. Often in a single locality as percent of the land planted to potato was
many as 50-70 varieties may be found,
and an average farmer can name about 35
of these types.9 10
Zimmerer (1991) has argued that, al-
though there is a general correlation between
the type of variety and elevation, there is no
9 A few of the locally named varieties may evidence for the belief in a fine-tuned adapta-
not be distinct (Brush, Carney, and Huaman tion of cultivars to specific environments such
1981, 77). as elevational micro-environments.

under improved varieties, a figure that head. Brush has made this point (1989,
may be higher than in the rest of the 26): "Besides concern with the adoption of
Andes because of the high degree of improved technology, social scientists
commercialization in this valley (Brush should be more actively engaged in
1986, 155). During the last few years, with learning why certain farmers and farming
the increased adoption of improved vari- systems retain traditional varieties. Under
eties, there has been an expansion in the a conservation mandate, resistance to
demand for external inputs, including change can be accepted as a virtue that
seeds. According to Brush (1986, 156): can be actively promoted rather than
"Improved varieties do not remain viable rejected or passively accepted."
as seed potatoes for more than a few Having looked at culture as a relation of
seasons. Farmers observe that they de- production, we return to the theme of this
generate and ultimately fail as seed. This paper: What are improved seeds? The
can be overcome by purchasing new seed, characteristics of seeds are not only
but this is a costly requirement for technical, social, and ecological, but also,
subsistence farmers." at once, cultural. To say that improved
The modernization of the Andean po- seed is a technique for increasing food
tato culture appears to parallel what we production is only part of the story. It has
have seen in Asia, where there has been a also been a bearer of the hegemonic
break in the connection in knowledge of culture of science, capital, and authority
local ecology and of the practice of that subjugates tradition and the keepers
matching native varieties to particular of that knowledge. The diffusion of
places to minimize losses from frost, improved seeds is also the diffusion of a
drought, and disease (Brush 1986; Shiva new culture, one that devalues the
1991). In the long run, a more serious production of subsistence and erodes the
consequence of agricultural moderniza- principle of local reproduction by creating
tion may turn out to be the loss of genetic a need for external inputs.
diversity in species. Genetic erosion has
not only narrowed the base of advanced
agriculture, but it has begun to destroy Hegemony and
the very source from which improved Academic Relations
varieties "renew their vigor.""1 Shiva
(1991) has argued that in Punjab the The expression "academic relations of
successes of the Green Revolution have production" is used here to refer to the
reduced genetic diversity at two levels: work of agricultural scientists who con-
first, there has been a reduction in the ceived and bred improved seeds and the
number of crops grown from discontinu- work of social scientists who conceived
ance of mixed farming; and second, within the social theory that facilitated the
each species (wheat and rice) there has diffusion of that technology. The story of
been a narrowing of the number of improved seeds provides an excellent
varieties grown. example of the claim made by critical
Hardly two decades have gone by since social theorists that science and technol-
development sociology portrayed tradi- ogy are in fact "social processes" directed
tional culture as an obstacle to economic by the power relations of the underlying
development. But the very success of the society, serving to strengthen and repro-
Green Revolution in the Third World duce those power relations (Aronowitz
appears to be turning that thesis on its 1988; Foucault 1980).
I argued earlier that improved seeds
was not just a technology to better feed
" Brush (1986) has also reported trends in people by increasing food production, but
loss of genetic diversity in Southeast Asian that it was also an instrument designed to
rice. serve the economic interests of particular

classes of people. Such claims are usually one of the main functions of intellectuals
dismissed as being a naive subscription to is to preserve the hegemony of their class
conspiracy theory, which has no room in over society as a whole by producing a
an academe, otherwise dedicated to the justifying ideology. In the Third World
pursuit of honest, independent scholar- today, economic development has become
ship. One resolution of such a debate lies a hegemonic idea for building national
in a reading of critical social theory which consensus. It is promoted not only as a
shows how ideas, assumptions, models, political goal of the nation-state, but also
methods, and language function to serve as an expression of scientific rationality
the needs of a particular world view, and and technological progress. The hege-
how this can happen without that intellect mony of developmentalism is well exem-
being centrally directed by particular plified in the realm of agricultural mod-
agents (Aronowitz 1988; see also Monthly ernization, where the objectives of the
Review, July-August 1986). In his critique state merge with the sense of urgency
of "value-free science," Proctor (1991, surrounding issues of hunger, malnutri-
268) expressed this in the following way: tion, and poverty. A few years ago, the
powerful director of a Washington-based
The simplestandperhapsthe oldestversion
of the ideal of neutralityis that science may aid agency visited a university to talk
be used for good or for evil. The problem about the progress of the Green Revolu-
with this view, though,is thatit ignoresthe tion in India. It was, as I remember, a
fact that science has both socialoriginsand year of serious food shortages in northern
social consequences. Who, one can ask, India. At the end of the talk a few polite
does science serve, and how? Who has voices of dissent raised questions about
gained from "miraclewheat"and who has the negative social and ecological conse-
lost? . . . Whose economieshave benefitted quences of the Green Revolution. Quickly
from the neoclassicaltheory of the firm, moving to don the mantle of a savior, our
whose have suffered? Science, in other speaker adroitly reminded us of the
words,does not alwaysserve the collective serious food situation in India, and gra-
we or the generic man but particular
men-often those who controlthe meansof ciously pleaded for patience. "This new
its productionand application.Science is system is not perfect," he said, "but
not differentfrom other aspects of culture please won't you give us a few years to
in this sense. straighten out the bugs in the system." No
doubt a reasonable request, but neverthe-
The Marxisttheoretician Gramsci'scon- less, it is enlightening to examine the
cept of hegemony provides a useful tool to social dynamic of this academic exchange.
examine the role of intellectuals in con- There was a real problem of food short-
structing the social consensus. Drawing ages at the time. He, the speaker, was
on the work of Gramsci, Williams (1983, active in the solution of that problem. By
145), in his book Keywords, described the pleading for patience from his critics, he
concept of hegemony in the following placed himself in charge, inside the circle
way: of action, and placed his critics outside
It is not limitedto mattersof directpolitical that circle in the region of sideline
controlbut seeksto describea moregeneral criticism. He only asked for patience from
predominancewhich includes,as one of its his critics; he had no use for the sense of
key features,a particularway of seeing the the criticism, and marginalized the knowl-
worldand humannatureand relationships. edge of critics by placing it outside the
... it is seen to dependfor its hold not only realm of the solution.
on this expressionin the interests of the We began our story of academic rela-
ruling class but also on its acceptanceas tions of improved seeds with the produc-
"normal reality" or "commonsense"by
those in practicesubordinateto it. tion of seeds themselves. We saw earlier
how two basic functions of seeds, repro-
Gramsci (1971, 6-23) has argued that duction and provision of food, were

separated from each other by transform- tions. Hewitt de Alcantara (1973-74, 32)
ing seeds into a commodity that had to be has suggested that Avila Camacho and his
purchased at each planting. Kloppenburg advisors specifically reached for a pro-
(1988) has argued that the potential of industrial program as a substitute for the
turning seeds into a commodity was a agrarian programs of Cardenas: "Genetic
driving force in the choice of hybridiza- research produced high-yielding seeds
tion as the technique for improving seeds. intended for use in irrigated areas, with
Wheat and corn improvement research ample access to credit for chemical inputs
conducted by Norman Borlaug is often and with a population literate enough to
cited as the beginning of the Green master a complex set of farming tech-
Revolution in Mexico. The Mexican story niques. In other words science responded
goes further back, however, to the 1930s, to the tasks set for it by politics -an
when the Ministry of Agriculture in inevitable characteristic of applied re-
Mexico during the progressive years of search in any form. The new technology
Lazaro Cardenas (1935-40) initiated a was designed to raise agricultural output
program of scientific research to improve spectacularly in relatively well-endowed
corn, the main staple of the peasantry. commercial farming areas -not to contrib-
The years of Cardenas saw sweeping land ute to the well-being of the mass of
reforms, the expropriation of Standard malnourished rural inhabitants, but to
Oil, and the threat of take-over of other feed the cities."
U.S. investments in Mexico. With the The social theory of the Green Revolu-
installation of Avila Camacho as next tion came out of the work of moderniza-
president, the program for the improve- tion theorists. The promotion of high-
ment of peasant crops was disbanded. yielding varieties spawned a whole new
During the 1940s, with help from the vocabulary that included terms and ex-
Rockefeller Foundation, a new program of pressions such as "progressive farmers,"
agricultural research was started, focusing "backward farmers," "betting on the
on hybrid varieties of irrigated wheat for fittest," and so on. Capitalist farmers with
large-scale commercial growers of north- access to large areas of irrigated land who
west Mexico. The idea was to reverse the could purchase the expensive inputs were
agrarian radicalism of Cardenas and re- culturally and linguistically transformed
place it with a model of scientific, into "progressive farmers." Poor farmers
industrial agriculture to produce food who could not afford to respond and
surpluses for urban areas using industrial intelligent farmers who actively rejected
inputs. This program later came to be the new seeds for ecological reasons were
known as the Green Revolution; it did transformed into "backward farmers," or
much for agribusiness of pumps, ma- into "laggards" through the language of
chines, fertilizer, and pesticides and little the sociology of innovation diffusion. In
for the nutrition and welfare of Mexican India, the strategy of "betting on the
peasants (Hewitt de Alcantara 1973-74). fittest" was a social rationalization of
Drawing on Rockefeller archives, Jen- agrarianpolicies that had nothing to offer
nings (1988) has reported that Carl Sauer, the marginal farmers, the landless labor-
who was a strong critic of the model of ers, or those who cultivated coarse grains
industrial agriculture, believed that the in areas of rain-fed agriculture (Frankel
agricultural and nutritional practices of 1971).
Mexican peasantry were quite sound, but And so we return to the question: What
that they needed support and strengthen- are improved seeds? The conception of
ing. Sauer's advice went unheeded at the seeds as academic relations shows that
foundation. Borlaug's work also marginal- what had earlier been called technologi-
ized the research on rain-fed corn that cal, social, ecological, and cultural is in
was being done by Mexican scientists in fact constructed through academic pro-
the Institute of Agricultural Investiga- cesses of research and social theory.

Therefore, it is through academic "de- proved seeds creates a demand for the
construction" that we can begin to under- installation of infrastructure-dams, ca-
stand how improved seeds are actually nals, and wells-and a demand for pumps,
constituted. Seeds as technology for in- spare parts, and fuel. Since these inputs
creasing food production is simply one are purchased in the market, obviously
manifestation of what they are. More to some classes of society will experience
the point is that seeds represent a nexus scarcity more severely than others. In
of mutually determining relations. Fre- very arid areas irrigation creates an added
quently asked questions such as "Wasn't burden through salinization, leading to
the Green Revolution a success?" or the loss of cultivable land. Good land can
"How productive are improved seeds?" also be lost to waterlogging caused by
make sense only within a particular irrigation-induced raising of water tables.
epistemology; the same inquiry makes In agricultural modernization we have
little or no sense when viewed in the seen the loss of knowledge of sustainable
wider context of seeds as nexus of practices due to the devaluation of tradi-
relations. tional indigenous knowledge. The newer
varieties of corn, wheat, and rice yield
lower quantities of biomass for organic
Economic Development of residue and animal fodder, depriving the
Social Scarcity soils of important sources of natural
organic nutrients. The long-run mainte-
Production is commonly defined as the nance of the quality of improved seeds
creation of use values. But under certain involves a continuous process of research
circumstances production not only creates in crop breeding, involving use of germ
use values but also destroys them-"the plasm from wild ancestors of the plants or
two faces of production." Scarcity is a from traditionally grown varieties. The
relation that grows out of this twin rapid diffusion of improved varieties
characteristic of production and appears causes the disappearance of traditional
in numerous aspects of development. My varieties, thus necessitating the mainte-
focus here has been on the concrete nance of germ plasm in a worldwide
manifestation of this phenomenon in system of gene banks. Among the prob-
agricultural modernization within the lems with that strategy are incomplete
nexus of relations of improved seeds. It collections, isolation from evolutionary
may be useful to recapitulate the argu- processes, and high costs of administering
ment briefly: The social construction of the system.
scarcity began with the genetic transfor- Agricultural modernization of improved
mation of seeds into a nonreproducing seeds was a model of "scientific agricul-
commodity. The improved seeds were ture." At one end of this model were the
developed to respond to industrial inputs crop breeding centers and gene banks,
such as fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation, and at the other were the large agricul-
and fuel. The creation of such demand tural universities and extension ser-
creates scarcity by creating the need for vices-a system of science and technology
these products. The continued use of that uses large amounts of scarce financial
inorganic fertilizer over a long period resources and creates extreme depen-
leads to the deterioration of soil structure dency. Furthermore, this model was
and increased erosion, thus requiring instrumental in conferring more power to
larger quantities of fertilizer to simply expert scientists, consultants, bankers,
maintain yields. The long-term use of and agents of agribusiness, a shift that was
chemical pesticides increases the demand justified in the name of increased food
not only for larger applications, but also production to meet the urgent needs of
for other, more powerful pesticides. The the growing hungry masses. The real food
need for irrigation water to grow im- needs of poor people served the ideologi-

cal needs of the promoters of the model of References
improved seeds quite well by helping to
marginalize the critics of scientific agricul- Altieri, M. A. 1987. Agroecology: The scientific
ture. basis of alternative agriculture. Boulder,
Colo.: Westview Press.
Altieri, M. A., and Anderson, M. K. 1986. An
ecological basis for the development of
Conclusion alternative agricultural systems for small
farmers in the Third World. American
This paper was partly an exercise in Journal of Alternative Agriculture 1:30-38.
understanding how problems are identi- Aronowitz, S. 1988. Science as power: Dis-
fied and solutions are proposed. Since course and ideology in modern society.
poverty is a serious problem, develop- Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
ment was widely seen as the solution. Baran, P. 1957. The political economy of
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What are Improved Seeds? An Epistemology of the Green Revolution

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Abstract: After four decades of planned economic development, large numbers of

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because it includes far more than technol-

lytical categories, nor is the list meant to

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duction" refers to a concept similar to develop this article by successively focus-

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spread of a series of innovations in an and location in space were further con-

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nonadoption can occur simultaneously in condition of the transformation of

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and so on in a program conducted by The The different varieties are adapted to

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