ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD admission and fellowship) · India · National Testing Agency for ICAR
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersUsing data, GIS, ERP and digital channels in agribusiness: the data-science workflow, basic machine learning and ICT for development.
In the exams: agribusiness management PhD entrance and fellowship examinations (light)
ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD) Agri-Business Management, research methods and operations research units
Light weight. Multivariate techniques asked conceptually: what discriminant analysis and principal component analysis do, the number of discriminant functions, Wilks' lambda, eigenvalues and the Kaiser criterion, communality, factor analysis versus PCA. Regression basics (R-squared, adjusted R-squared, dummy variables, logistic regression and odds ratios), forecasting methods and error measures, and the role of ICT, ERP and e-markets in agribusiness.
How our questions for ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF spread across the units of Business Analytics & Digital Agribusiness. Difficulty: 33 easy, 53 medium, 23 hard.
| Supervised learning: regression | 21 | |
| The data-science workflow | 15 | |
| Digital marketing and brand building | 12 | |
| ICT for development | 12 | |
| Basics of deep learning | 11 | |
| Principal component analysis | 10 | |
| Geographic information systems for agribusiness | 10 | |
| Linear discriminant analysis | 9 | |
| Enterprise resource planning | 9 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
Which question is answered by prescriptive analytics?
D. How much of each feed should the mill make next week to maximise margin within capacity?
Prescriptive analytics recommends a decision by combining predictions with an objective (margin) and constraints (capacity), typically by optimisation. Monthly depot sales are descriptive, a payment-delay probability is predictive, and asking why sales fell is diagnostic.
Seed grades recorded as A, B and C, where A is best but the gaps between grades are not equal, are measured on which scale?
D. Ordinal scale
The grades have a meaningful order but unknown or unequal gaps, which defines an ordinal scale. Nominal data have no order (crop names), interval data have equal gaps without a true zero, and ratio data have a true zero (tonnes).
What is the defining feature of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system?
B. Integrated modules sharing one database, so a transaction updates every function at once
ERP integrates finance, procurement, inventory, production, sales and HR on a common database, so recording a delivery updates stock, payables and the ledger together. Separate departmental systems are the 'islands of automation' ERP replaced; spreadsheets and e-commerce sites are different tools.
A grain processor recorded farmer deliveries in a procurement application, stock in a warehouse spreadsheet and payments in an accounting package. What is the main benefit of an integrated ERP system?
C. One delivery entry updates stock, payable and ledger, ending re-entry and mismatches
Integration means a single transaction flows to inventory, accounts payable and the general ledger, eliminating duplicate entry and reconciliation. ERP records quality data but does not replace measurement, does not set market prices, and does not replace audit.
A dairy's food-safety rules require 'one step back, one step forward' traceability. What must its ERP system be able to show?
A. Which supplier lots went into each finished batch and which customers received that batch
One step back, one step forward means the firm can trace inputs to its immediate suppliers and outputs to its immediate customers, using batch and lot tracking. Retail prices, animal pedigrees and weather are outside this legal traceability requirement.
An animal-feed brand earns an annual margin of 1,200 per retained dairy customer. Annual retention is 70% and the discount rate 10%. Using CLV = m × r/(1 + d − r), what is customer lifetime value?
B. 2,100
CLV = 1,200 × 0.70/(1 + 0.10 − 0.70) = 840/0.40 = 2,100. 3,000 drops r from the numerator (1,200/0.40), 840 is only the first-year expected margin, and 4,000 uses 1,200/(1 − 0.70) and ignores discounting.
Further reading: Gupta and Lehmann, Customers as assets
Studies of fish markets in Kerala, India, and grain markets in Niger found that the spread of mobile phones mainly did what?
C. Reduced price dispersion across markets as traders and sellers could compare prices
Jensen (Kerala fisheries) and Aker (Niger grain) found that mobile phones lowered search costs and narrowed price differences between markets; Jensen also found less waste. The other options contradict these findings.
Further reading: Jensen (2007); Aker (2010)
What is basis risk in index-based (parametric) crop insurance?
C. The chance that the index payout differs from the farmer's actual loss on the farm
Index insurance pays on a measured weather or satellite index, so a farmer can suffer loss while the index shows none, or vice versa; that mismatch is basis risk. Insolvency is counterparty risk, exaggerated claims are moral hazard in indemnity insurance (which index insurance avoids), and premium changes are pricing.
Which principle of data protection, common to many national laws, says an organisation should collect only the personal data needed for a stated purpose?
C. Data minimisation
Data minimisation limits collection to what is necessary for the purpose. Portability is the right to move one's data between providers, storage limitation restricts how long data are kept, and accountability makes the controller responsible for showing compliance.
Further reading: Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 5
A researcher wants to measure the causal effect of a text-message price service on farm-gate prices. Which design gives the most credible estimate?
B. Randomly assign villages to receive the service or not and compare prices received
Random assignment makes treated and control villages comparable, so a price difference can be attributed to the service. Self-selected subscribers differ systematically (better-connected, more commercial), before–after comparisons confound the service with market trends, and self-reported belief is not a measure of effect.
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