ASRB ARS / NET / SMS / STO Climate Adaptation, Climate-Smart Agriculture & Disaster Risk: practice questions

Question 1 · easy

A 1 ha catchment receives 600 mm of seasonal rainfall with a runoff coefficient of 0.3. What volume of runoff can a farm pond harvest from it?

1. 1,800 m³
2. 180 m³
3. 1,800,000 m³
4. 6,000 m³

Question 2 · hard

Farmer-managed natural regeneration in the Niger Sahel is cited as a low-cost adaptation success because it

1. protected resprouting stumps, restoring tree cover over vast areas at little cost
2. fenced entire districts and removed all farmers to allow forests to regrow naturally
3. planted millions of imported seedlings raised in nurseries funded by carbon credits
4. replaced millet with irrigated rice, raising yields enough to fund tree planting

Question 3 · easy

Using the McKee classification of the Standardized Precipitation Index, an SPI of −1.7 indicates

1. extremely dry conditions
2. severely dry conditions
3. near-normal conditions
4. moderately dry conditions

Question 4 · hard

Why are SPI values computed over 1–3 months and over 12–24 months used for different purposes?

1. Short periods are used only in winter; long periods are used only during the monsoon season
2. Short periods track groundwater and reservoirs; long periods track soil moisture and crop stress
3. Short and long periods always give identical values, so the choice is purely conventional
4. Short periods track soil moisture and crops; long periods track streamflow, reservoirs and groundwater

Question 5 · medium

The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index is calculated as

1. (NIR + Red)/(NIR − Red)
2. NIR/Red − 1
3. (NIR − Red)/(NIR + Red)
4. (Red − NIR)/(Red + NIR)

Question 6 · hard

'Build back better' after a flood in an agricultural district would include

1. replacing all local crops with imported varieties regardless of their flood tolerance
2. postponing all repairs until the next flood to see which structures survive it
3. raising plinths of grain stores and restoring floodplain wetlands as part of reconstruction
4. rebuilding every structure exactly where and how it stood before, as quickly as possible

Question 7 · medium

After a storm surge deposits seawater on rice fields, what is the main recovery requirement before normal rice can be grown?

1. Leaving the field flooded with seawater so the next tide washes the salt out
2. Applying extra nitrogen to help the crop dilute the salt in its tissues
3. Leaching salts with fresh water and drainage, with salt-tolerant varieties meanwhile
4. Ploughing deeply to bury the salt permanently below the root zone

Question 8 · medium

A district's contingency plan faces a monsoon onset delayed by six weeks. Which response is typical?

1. Sow the same long-duration rice variety and expect normal harvest dates
2. Switch from long rice to short pulses, millets or oilseeds
3. Increase the area under long-duration cotton to make use of late rains
4. Postpone all sowing until the next year's monsoon to avoid any risk

Question 9 · medium

Which measure is a typical contingency response to a mid-season dry spell during the vegetative stage?

1. Immediate harvest of the crop at the vegetative stage for grain
2. Life-saving irrigation from farm ponds, mulching and weeding to cut competition
3. Deep ploughing between rows to bring up moist subsoil to the surface
4. Heavy nitrogen application to stimulate growth during the dry spell

Question 10 · medium

Index-based livestock insurance in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia uses which index?

1. Daily milk yield recorded by each pastoral household
2. Individual animal deaths verified by a veterinarian
3. Local market price of maize in the nearest town
4. Satellite vegetation data estimating forage scarcity