RPSC Agriculture Officer 2024 Agricultural Marketing & Price Analysis: practice questions

Question 1 · medium

A block where farmers sell most of their paddy to village traders immediately after harvest at low prices, and buy back grain later at higher prices, most clearly shows:

1. A market dominated by futures trading
2. Excess marketable surplus caused by high yields
3. Weak marketing, storage and credit, leading to distress sales
4. An efficient market with low price spread

Question 2 · medium

A farmer (production 6,000 kg, marketable surplus 3,800 kg) actually sells 4,500 kg right after harvest to repay a loan. Which statement is correct?

1. Marketed surplus ratio is 63.3% and there is no distress sale
2. Marketed surplus ratio is 75% and marketed surplus exceeds marketable surplus by 700 kg, a sign of distress sale
3. Marketed surplus ratio is 118.4%, which shows retention for higher prices
4. Marketable surplus becomes 4,500 kg because the farmer sold it

Question 3 · medium

A state proposes to 'eliminate middlemen' in vegetable marketing by having farmers sell directly to consumers. The main economic point to make is:

1. Direct selling removes the need for grading and transport
2. Removing middlemen will always double the farmer's share of the consumer's money, since their margin is pure profit with no costs
3. The functions middlemen perform must still be done by someone and cost money
4. Middlemen perform no useful function and add only profit

Question 4 · easy

Grading and standardisation of farm produce belongs to which group of marketing functions in the Kohls–Uhl classification?

1. An exchange function, because grading itself transfers title
2. A facilitating function
3. A physical function, because grading changes the product's form
4. Not a marketing function at all, only a production task

Question 5 · easy

Consumers pay 3000 currency units per 100 kg and the farmer's net price for the equivalent quantity is 2150 currency units. The price spread is:

1. 850 currency units
2. 71.7%
3. 5,150 currency units
4. 2,150 currency units

Question 6 · easy

Statutory marketing boards with monopoly rights to buy export crops from farmers were widespread in which region until liberalisation in the 1980s and 1990s?

1. East Asia, through central wholesale markets run by city governments
2. Sub-Saharan Africa, including cocoa, cotton and groundnut boards
3. Western Europe, through cooperative flower and vegetable clock auctions
4. North America, through federal marketing orders for fresh fruit

Question 7 · medium

When a government supports pulse prices by physical purchase, the main practical difficulty compared with wheat or rice is that:

1. Pulses cannot be stored at all, even for a single season
2. Pulse markets are thin, production is rainfed and procurement networks are small
3. Pulses are never traded internationally
4. Pulses have no processing stage

Question 8 · medium

Interest-subsidised loans for warehouses, cold chains and pack houses are an example of public support for:

1. Post-harvest marketing infrastructure
2. Direct income transfers paid to all farmers
3. Price deficiency payments
4. Crop insurance premiums

Question 9 · medium

A government's umbrella price-support programme combines physical procurement, deficiency payments for oilseeds and a pilot of procurement by private stockists. This combination mainly aims to:

1. Replace crop insurance with a single payment scheme
2. Extend support beyond storable, procurable crops
3. Fix retail prices of oilseeds
4. Abolish wholesale markets

Question 10 · medium

Under the National Food Security Act, 2013, priority households are entitled to:

1. 35 kg per person per month
2. 10 kg per household per month for all households
3. Only pulses and edible oil
4. 5 kg of foodgrains per person per month, with Antyodaya households getting 35 kg per household