NABARD Assistant Manager Grade A Food Processing & Technology Management: practice questions

1 · Status of the food processing industry · hard

Which country is best known as a leading exporter of frozen concentrated orange juice, along with soybean meal and oil, sugar and poultry meat?

1. Kenya
2. Brazil
3. Bangladesh
4. Denmark

2 · Status of the food processing industry · medium

The 'One Village One Product' movement, begun in Oita Prefecture, Japan in 1979 and later adapted in Thailand and elsewhere, is best described as an approach in which:

1. The state insures each village's main crop against yield loss and pays claims through a single national insurer
2. A general block grant is given to each province for any agricultural development project it chooses to fund
3. Each locality picks a distinctive product and builds processing, quality, branding and marketing around it
4. Micro processors receive a capital subsidy for any product they choose, with no link to a locality or a market

3 · Post-harvest losses and their reduction · hard

A trader stores potatoes bought at 10 currency units per kg for 6 months. Cold-storage charge is 1.5 per kg for the season, interest is 12 per cent a year on the purchase price, and 8 per cent of the weight is lost in storage. If the expected selling price after storage is 14 per kg, what is the expected net gain per kg of potatoes stored, in currency units?

1. 2.50
2. 0.78
3. 1.90
4. 4.00

4 · Cost analysis of processing · easy

A spice-grinding unit has annual fixed costs of 6,000,000 currency units. It sells ground spice at 50 currency units per kg and variable cost is 35 per kg. What is the break-even quantity per year?

1. 120,000 kg
2. 171,429 kg
3. 70,588 kg
4. 400,000 kg

5 · Food laws and the FSS Act · hard

A fruit processor wants to export mango pulp. In most exporting countries, which pairing of institutions and roles is correct?

1. The domestic food regulator issues every export certificate; the export promotion agency sets domestic food standards
2. An export promotion agency registers and supports exporters; an official inspection body certifies consignments
3. The seafood export agency registers fruit exporters; the inspection body sets the residue limits for every export
4. The national standards bureau registers all exporters; the domestic food regulator runs export trade fairs

6 · Plant-level project formulation · easy

A bakery producing fresh bread is usually located near its market because:

1. Flour cannot be transported
2. Bread has a very long shelf life
3. The product is perishable after processing and gains bulk relative to its ingredients
4. Bakeries need to be near wheat farms

7 · Plant-level project formulation · medium

In one year a food processing project has profit after tax of 1.8 million currency units, depreciation of 1.0 million, interest on term loan of 0.8 million and term-loan principal repayment of 2.0 million. What is its debt service coverage ratio?

1. 1.40
2. 1.00
3. 1.80
4. 1.29

8 · Plant-level project formulation · medium

In a detailed project report for a food processing plant, which assumption should most concern a bank appraiser?

1. Utilisation rising from 50 to 80 per cent over four years
2. Capacity utilisation of 90 per cent from the first year of operation with no build-up
3. A contingency provision on civil works and machinery
4. Margin money for working capital included in project cost

9 · Case studies in processing ventures · medium

A village rice mill that charges farmers a fixed fee per quintal to mill their own paddy is following which business model, and what risk does it avoid?

1. Contract farming; it avoids quality risk
2. Toll (job-work) processing; it avoids raw-material price risk
3. Co-packing (contract manufacturing); it avoids volume risk
4. Integration; it avoids market risk for farmers

10 · Case studies in processing ventures · medium

Kenya's grower-owned smallholder tea factories depend above all on:

1. Disciplined fresh-leaf collection and quality control, because leaf quality falls quickly after plucking
2. Long storage of green leaf for several weeks before processing so that it can ferment fully in the sacks
3. Import of leaf from neighbouring countries
4. Selling unprocessed leaf directly to consumers