Some Socio-Economic Consequences of the Green Revolution

Since the 1960s the Green Revolution has been the subject of lively debate among the international scientific community, not only with regard to its technical aspects but, and above all, for its socio-economic impacts. The article first analyses the development theories of the rural sector in the 1950s and 1960s in order to describe the theoretical path that started the Green Revolution in the developing countries, i.e. the high pay-off input model. The article then describes the critical socio-economic elements that the literature analysis highlights for Asia, where 60 percent of the population live on less than US$2 per day. The role of the agriculture sector has to be reconsidered not just in terms of a changed economic structure, but also with an adequate evaluation of other components (e.g. social, political and institutional capital, as well as the environment) in order to initiate sustainable development processes.