Harper Adams MSc International Agri-Business Agri Value Chain Management: practice questions

1 · External drivers: population and income · medium

Which consequence of rapid urbanisation matters most for the design of food value chains?

1. Urban consumers buy nearly all their food, more of it processed, so longer chains move more perishables further
2. Urban consumers grow most of their own vegetables
3. Urbanisation reduces total food demand
4. Urban consumers buy only from supermarkets, so traditional wet markets and street vendors disappear from the cities

2 · External drivers: globalisation and trade · hard

A country abolishes the state marketing board that bought all cotton at a fixed price and supplied seed and fertiliser on credit. Private ginners enter. Which outcome is most consistent with experience from such reforms?

1. Farmers' incomes necessarily fall because private firms always pay less
2. Quality automatically improves because competition can reward it
3. Farmers' share of the export price may rise, but input credit and quality control can collapse without private coordination
4. Nothing changes for farmers, because boards and private ginners perform identical roles in buying, input credit and quality control

3 · Value-chain actors · hard

In a district, women manage 40 percent of the maize area with average yields of 1.5 t/ha, while men's plots yield 2.0 t/ha. If better access to inputs and advice raised women's yields to equal men's, by how much would total district maize output rise?

1. 25.0%
2. 11.1%
3. 10.0%
4. 33.3%

4 · Value-chain actors · hard

A leafy vegetable that women grew and sold in local markets becomes a contract export crop, with contracts and payments registered in the name of the landholder, usually the husband. What is the most likely risk, and a sound response?

1. Women's incomes rise automatically because the crop is more profitable, and contracts guarantee them a fixed share of the payment
2. Income control shifts to men while women's labour rises; registering both spouses and paying the worker can counter it
3. Men usually withdraw from the crop because exports are risky
4. The processor must stop buying from women by law

5 · Value-chain mapping · hard

In a coffee chain, 6 kg of fresh cherry yields 1 kg of green coffee. Farmers sell cherry at 0.8 CU per kg, and exporters sell green coffee free on board at 9 CU per kg. What is the farmers' share of the FOB value?

1. 8.9%
2. 46.7%
3. 53.3%
4. 1.5%

6 · The role of the consumer · hard

A vegetable grower considers converting to certified organic production. Conventionally she harvests 1000 kg at 2.0 CU per kg. After conversion she expects 850 kg, all sold at 2.6 CU per kg, input cost savings of 150 CU and certification costs of 120 CU. What is the change in her net return?

1. +240 CU
2. +630 CU
3. +210 CU
4. −390 CU

7 · The role of the consumer · medium

A retail price premium of 30 percent for a certified product does not mean farmers receive 30 percent more. Why?

1. Because certification premiums are illegal at farm level
2. Because consumers pay the premium only in the first year, after which retailers fold it into the ordinary shelf price for all
3. The premium is shared along the chain and absorbs certification and marketing costs, and not all output sells as certified
4. Because farmers are paid in a different currency

8 · Upgrading in value chains · hard

A cooperative introduces a costly quality standard to win a premium export contract. Which outcome should an inclusive upgrading strategy most guard against?

1. All members earning the same premium
2. Poorer members who cannot afford the investment being excluded while better-off members take the premium
3. The cooperative becoming too small to need certification once the premium export contract is signed with the buyer
4. Consumers refusing to pay for quality

9 · External drivers: climate and technology · medium

Which statement about climate impacts on agri-food value chains is most accurate?

1. Impacts reach beyond the farm to roads, storage, processing and quality, so the whole chain must plan for them
2. Climate affects only the farm stage
3. Climate affects only consumers through prices, since farms adapt by switching crops and traders simply pass costs on
4. Climate change affects only irrigated agriculture