IBPS SO Agricultural Field Officer, CRP SPL-XVI (2026) - new pattern · India · Institute of Banking Personnel Selection
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersMaking the best use of land, labour, capital and machinery on a farm: measuring efficiency, costing, planning and budgeting, and keeping records.
In the exams: agricultural master's entrance examinations, agricultural economics (heavy); agricultural economics PhD entrance and fellowship examinations, farm management (heavy); cost analysis in agricultural field officer recruitment in banking (present); agricultural scientist eligibility tests (present)
How our questions for IBPS SO Agricultural Field Officer, CRP SPL-XVI spread across the units of Farm Management. Difficulty: 25 easy, 9 medium, 7 hard.
| Cost concepts in farm management | 8 | |
| Partial budgeting | 4 | |
| Enterprise budgeting | 4 | |
| Management of land, labour, capital and machinery | 4 | |
| Measures of farm efficiency | 3 | |
| Valuation of farm assets and liabilities | 3 | |
| Farm records and accounts | 3 | |
| Farm cost accounting | 3 | |
| Definition and scope of farm management | 2 | |
| Whole-farm planning and budgeting | 2 | |
| Farm inventory | 2 | |
| Farming systems and the systems approach | 2 | |
| Decision-making under certainty, risk and uncertainty | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
An enterprise gives a gross return of 90,000 currency units per hectare at a total cost of 72,000 per hectare. Its benefit-cost ratio is
A. 1.25
B:C ratio = gross return ÷ total cost = 90000/72000 = 1.25. 0.80 is the input-output (cost-return) ratio, the inverse. 0.25 is net return per currency unit of cost, which is B:C minus 1. 0.20 divides the net return by gross return (18000/90000).
Further reading: Johl and Kapur, Fundamentals of Farm Business Management
Cost B1 in the A1–C3 cost ladder equals Cost A1 plus
D. interest on the value of owned fixed capital assets, excluding land
B1 = A1 + interest on owned fixed capital (excluding land). Rental value of owned land is added to reach B2, family labour to reach C1 or C2, and the 10 per cent management charge to reach C3.
Further reading: CACP, Cost concepts (cacp.da.gov.in)
In the official A1–C3 definitions, Cost C3 is
C. Cost C2* plus 10 per cent of Cost C2* as the value of the farmer's management
C3 = C2* + 10% of C2*, where C2* revalues family labour at the higher of statutory minimum and market wage. Some older textbooks write C3 = C2 + 10% of C2; C1 plus rental value of owned land is effectively C2 (for an owner-operator), not C3.
Further reading: CACP, Cost concepts (cacp.da.gov.in)
In a partial budget, which pair of items appears on the credit (positive) side?
D. Added returns, reduced costs
The credit side lists changes that raise profit: new returns and costs avoided. The debit side lists added costs and returns given up. Net change = (added returns + reduced costs) − (added costs + reduced returns).
Further reading: Kay, Edwards and Duffy, Farm Management
A bank officer checks a mustard enterprise budget: variable cost 60000 currency units/ha, possible yields 30, 40 or 50 q/ha and price between 1800 and 2400/q. What is the range of gross margin across these yields and prices?
D. -6,000 currency units to 60,000
Worst case: 30 × 1800 − 60000 = -6000. Best case: 50 × 2400 − 60000 = 60000. A sensitivity table like this shows how exposed the enterprise is: here a low-yield, low-price year loses money. Using only the middle yield (12,000 currency units to 36,000) hides that downside; leaving out variable cost gives gross output (54,000 currency units to 120,000), not margin. 0 currency units to 60,000 floors the loss year at zero.
Further reading: Kay, Edwards and Duffy, Farm Management
A farm map showing field boundaries, areas, soil types and irrigation sources is an example of
B. a physical (production) record
Records are classed as physical (farm map, crop, livestock, labour and machinery records) or financial (inventory values, cash book, ledger, statements). A farm map records physical facts, not money.
Further reading: Johl and Kapur, Fundamentals of Farm Business Management
A farm's cash receipts are 520,000 currency units and cash expenses 340,000. Opening inventory was 110,000 currency units and closing inventory 160,000. Depreciation is 30,000 currency units. Net farm income is
A. 200,000 currency units
NFI = receipts − expenses + (closing − opening inventory) − depreciation = 520000 − 340000 + (160000 − 110000) − 30000 = 180000 + 50000 − 30000 = 200000. Ignoring inventory change gives 150000; forgetting depreciation gives 230000; subtracting the inventory rise gives 100000.
Further reading: Kay, Edwards and Duffy, Farm Management
A farmer cannot measure his maize store directly. Records show opening stock 80 q, production 300 q, sales 250 q, fed to animals 40 q and storage loss 5 q. The closing stock is
D. 85 q
Closing = opening + production − sales − use − losses = 80 + 300 − 250 − 40 − 5 = 85 q. Omitting feed and loss gives 130; omitting opening stock gives 5. Omitting only the storage loss gives 90.
Further reading: Johl and Kapur, Fundamentals of Farm Business Management
Owning a seed drill costs 36,000 currency units a year in fixed costs plus 1100/ha to operate. Custom hiring costs 2000 currency units/ha. Above what area does owning become cheaper?
C. 40 ha
Break-even area = fixed cost/(custom rate − own variable cost) = 36000/(2000 − 1100) = 36000/900 = 40 ha. Dividing by the custom rate alone (18) ignores the cost of operating one's own machine. Timeliness benefits of owning, if any, would lower the break-even area. 32.7 ha divides by own operating cost (36000/1100); 11.6 ha adds the two rates (36000/3100).
Further reading: Kay, Edwards and Duffy, Farm Management
A partial budget shows added returns of 40,000 currency units, reduced costs of 10,000, added costs of 25,000 and reduced returns of 15,000. The net change in profit is
D. 10,000 currency units
Net = (added returns + reduced costs) − (added costs + reduced returns) = (40,000 + 10,000) − (25,000 + 15,000) = 50,000 − 40,000 = 10,000. 50,000 currency units is the credit side alone; −10,000 reverses the sides. 20,000 currency units puts reduced costs and reduced returns on the wrong sides.
Further reading: Kay, Edwards and Duffy, Farm Management
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