ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF Climate Adaptation, Climate-Smart Agriculture & Disaster Risk: practice questions

1 · Climate-smart agriculture: productivity, adaptation, mitigation · easy

In which year and setting was climate-smart agriculture launched by FAO?

1. 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit alongside the Convention on Biological Diversity
2. 2015, at the Paris climate conference as part of the Paris Agreement text
3. 2010, at the Hague Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change
4. 1996, at the World Food Summit in Rome with the Rome Declaration

2 · Stress-tolerant varieties, crop diversification and shifting calendars · medium

What is the main trade-off of crop diversification as a risk-management strategy?

1. It removes all weather risk but requires every farmer to own livestock as well
2. It raises income variability but always raises average income above specialisation
3. It lowers income variability but tends to cut average income versus specialising
4. It has no costs at all, so every farmer should grow as many crops as possible

3 · Stress-tolerant varieties, crop diversification and shifting calendars · hard

Why do breeders use future-climate testing sites and managed-stress screening when developing climate-resilient varieties?

1. Testing sites in the future climate are required because present-day weather cannot stress crops
2. Managed stress screening replaces genetics, so the variety's traits no longer matter for adaptation
3. Future-climate sites are used only to measure greenhouse gas emissions from the new varieties
4. Release takes a decade or more, so varieties must suit the climate expected when farmers grow them

4 · Stress-tolerant varieties, crop diversification and shifting calendars · easy

Drought-tolerant maize varieties developed for sub-Saharan Africa by CIMMYT, IITA and national programmes are valued because they

1. convert to sorghum when drought becomes severe in mid-season
2. are perennial and need to be sown only once every five years
3. need no rainfall at all once they have germinated in the field
4. yield more under moderate drought with no penalty in good years

5 · Water-smart and soil-smart practices · medium

Why does crop residue mulch help crops survive dry spells?

1. It cuts evaporation and runoff, keeping rain in the root zone
2. It darkens the soil surface, warming it to speed up root growth in drought
3. It releases carbon dioxide that closes stomata and stops all transpiration
4. It adds enough water from its own tissues to replace a week of rain

6 · Drought monitoring and drought management · hard

For a district in a given week, current NDVI is 0.35, the historical minimum NDVI for that week is 0.20 and the maximum is 0.70. What is the Vegetation Condition Index?

1. 30
2. 70
3. 15
4. 50

7 · District and crop contingency planning · easy

In India, district agricultural contingency plans were prepared under the coordination of which institute?

1. India Meteorological Department, Pune office
2. ICAR-CRIDA, the dryland agriculture institute
3. National Disaster Response Force headquarters
4. Indian Space Research Organisation, Bengaluru

8 · District and crop contingency planning · easy

What is the recommended response to terminal drought in a grain crop, according to typical contingency plans?

1. Apply heavy irrigation to a crop that has already reached harvest maturity
2. Delay harvest by a month so the crop can recover once the rains return
3. Replant the main crop immediately so it matures in the following dry season
4. Harvest at physiological maturity and plan a residual-moisture crop where possible

9 · District and crop contingency planning · hard

Why should district contingency plans distinguish between rainfed smallholders, irrigated farms and tenant farmers?

1. Smallholders always prefer long-duration crops, so their plan never changes
2. Water access, capital, tenure and risk tolerance differ
3. Tenant farmers are legally barred from changing crops under all tenancy laws
4. Only irrigated farms ever face weather aberrations, so others need no plan

10 · Risk transfer: crop insurance and index insurance as adaptation · easy

What is basis risk in index insurance?

1. The mismatch between a farmer's actual loss and the payout determined by the index
2. The risk that farmers deliberately neglect crops because they are insured
3. The risk that only the riskiest farmers buy insurance, raising premiums for all
4. The risk that the insurance company becomes insolvent after a widespread drought