RPSC Agriculture Officer 2024 Agribusiness Environment & Policy: practice questions

Question 1 · easy

The term 'agribusiness' was introduced in 1957 by

1. Theodore Schultz of Chicago
2. John Mellor of Cornell
3. John H. Davis and Ray A. Goldberg of Harvard
4. Simon Kuznets of Harvard

Question 2 · easy

An apex agricultural development bank refinances rural banks and cooperatives instead of lending mainly to farmers itself. Its main contribution to the agribusiness system is

1. setting the support prices at which public agencies procure grain
2. licensing the traders who buy in regulated wholesale markets
3. channelling long-term funds into rural lending and infrastructure
4. certifying export consignments against residue limits

Question 3 · easy

Contract farming is best defined as

1. an agreement made before production between a farmer and a buyer on price, quantity, quality and delivery
2. a sale of harvested produce at the prevailing wholesale-market price
3. leasing of farmland by a company for its own cultivation, using hired labour under the company's supervision
4. purchase of crops by the government at the support price announced before the sowing season begins

Question 4 · easy

Where sugar mills must by law pay cane growers at least a price fixed by the government, that price is an example of

1. a deficiency payment from the budget
2. a central issue price for rations
3. a statutory minimum price paid by processors
4. a market intervention price for perishable crops

Question 5 · medium

A price deficiency payment scheme differs from public procurement at a support price because it

1. requires the government to buy and store the entire crop offered at the support price in state warehouses
2. pays farmers the gap between the support price and the market price without the state buying the crop
3. sets a maximum price that traders can pay, so that consumers are protected when harvest prices rise
4. applies only to exports

Question 6 · easy

A government replaces a universal ration system with one giving different entitlements to poor and non-poor households. The main aim and main risk are

1. higher farm-gate prices, at the risk of lower exports
2. concentrating the subsidy on the poor at lower fiscal cost, at the risk of excluding eligible households
3. ending the need for public procurement and storage of grain, at the risk of higher losses in the remaining stocks
4. raising food exports, at the risk of shortages

Question 7 · easy

Making food entitlements portable, so that beneficiaries can draw rations from any authorised shop in the country, mainly benefits

1. migrant workers, who draw their entitlement wherever they are working
2. large farmers selling grain to the public procurement agency at harvest
3. exporters of rice
4. ration shop owners

Question 8 · easy

National foreign-trade laws commonly classify goods as free, restricted, prohibited or reserved for state trading. A good that may be exported only under a licence is

1. restricted
2. free
3. prohibited
4. reserved for state trading

Question 9 · medium

During the 2022 world food price spike, which country imposed a temporary export ban on the commodity shown?

1. Australia - wheat
2. Brazil - soybeans
3. Indonesia - palm oil
4. New Zealand - dairy products

Question 10 · easy

Which feature is shared by the consolidated food safety laws adopted in many countries since 2000 (for example in the EU in 2002, India in 2006, China in 2009 and the US in 2011)?

1. Abolition of all licensing of food businesses
2. Fixed standards that cannot be revised as scientific evidence on hazards changes
3. Separate, uncoordinated agencies for every food product
4. Primary responsibility on food businesses, with science-based standards