Struggling Farmers

According to one report, "the green revolution that boosted farm outputs around the world came at a price: millions of the world's poorest farmers in Africa became poorer," says New Scientist magazine. How so? From the late 1950's on, high -yield varieties of wheat and rice were introduced to stem the tide of an anticipated famine caused by world population boom. However, these high-yield varieties produced a grain surplus that caused prices to fail. "Farmers who could afford to plant these new varieties made for lower prices with improved yields, but those who could not lost out. In addition, the new grain varieties did not do well in African conditions because the grains were developed for cultivation in Asia and Latin America.