The video is all about a captivating story of how the Green Revolution was started so that people in the developing world could be rescued from hunger. Norman Borlaug was the leading scientist in the initiative that began in the 1940s (The Green Revolution: Waging a War against Hunger). The scientist is credited with helping about one billion persons to avoid starvation. The Green Revolution was typified by many scientific activities that led to the development of high-producing types of grains, improvement of agricultural systems, and distribution of high quality seeds. Others were modernization of farm management methods, the introduction and expansion of irrigation infrastructure, assembly of farm machinery and the production of pesticides (The Green Revolution: Waging a War against Hunger).
Although Norman Borlaug maintains that the goal of the Green Revolution was to alleviate famine, which was frequently experienced in the developing world, Nick Cullather does not agree with his statement (Cullather 2). In his book, Cullather provides important information about how the politics were utilized in Asian’s Cold War to champion interests of the US. Thus, the author argues that the objective of the revolution was to control Asia after the Second World War.
The US government was committed to transmuting the politics of nations that were characterized by perpetual conflicts into a platform of complex politics that could achieve relatively high levels of agricultural production (Cullather 76). The fascinating story of Cullather highlights the political ideologies that were concealed in fighting against hunger in a post-war Asia. In fact, the author does not only show that the US government was keen on the economics of famine in the continent, but he also demonstrates that it focused on promoting American technology that could go a long way in winning Asian hearts and minds (Cullather 34).
It is important to note that Asia was largely using ideologies associated with communism, which were not supported by the US government. It was believed that if Asia continued with communism, then the American government could not control some valuable resources in the continent, such as crude oil. However, by encouraging people to adopt modern methods of agriculture, America could be viewed as a nation that was keen on saving many persons across the world from hunger. Although the proponents of the Green Revolution adopted a complex development policy, it is evident that mixed results of the American engagement with Asian politics were obtained (Cullather 98).
The story Cullather tells in his book is different from that in the video. The video concentrates on informing the audience about the positive impacts of modern approaches to farming. The narrator says that the Green Revolution initiative was successful as a result of many reasons, such as support from different bodies (The Green Revolution: Waging a War against Hunger). Some of the bodies mentioned are the Ford Foundation, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), among others.
On the other hand, Cullather contends that the revolution was a myth that aimed at replacing other societies’ agricultural systems with problematic farming approaches from America (Cullather 15). The professor of history believes that the revolution was the basis of the hearts and minds doctrine that exposed the specifics of war that could not easily be identified by many people across the world.
Works Cited
Cullather, Nick. The Hungry World: America’s Cold War Battle against Poverty in Asia. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010. Print.
The Green Revolution: Waging a War against Hunger. Ex Prod. Nick Cullather. New York, NY: NHD-Senior Group Documentary. 2010.