ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD) · India · NTA for ICAR
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersTurning livestock skills into a business: business plans, bankable dairy, poultry and goat projects, value chains, start-ups and incubation.
In the exams: Assessed within MSVE coursework and internship; not a separately weighted exam subject
ICAR AIEEA (PG) and ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF (PhD) — Veterinary Extension
Definitions and theories of entrepreneurship (Schumpeter, McClelland, Danhof), entrepreneurship development programmes, SWOT and feasibility, project report components, DSCR and break-even numericals, value-chain concepts and upgrading, incubation.
How our questions for ICAR AICE-JRF/SRF spread across the units of Livestock Entrepreneurship. Difficulty: 2 easy, 7 medium, 21 hard.
| Start-ups | 5 | |
| Incubation | 5 | |
| Business plans | 4 | |
| Bankable dairy projects | 4 | |
| Livestock value chains | 4 | |
| Bankable poultry projects | 3 | |
| Government subsidy schemes | 3 | |
| Bankable goat projects | 2 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
A dairy project has milk revenue of 1,204,500 CU, an annual net cash flow of 350,500 CU and year-one debt service of 288,000 CU. If milk price falls 10% with no change in costs, what is the new year-one DSCR, treating cash flow as the cash available for debt service?
D. 0.80
A 10% fall in price cuts revenue by 120,450 CU, so cash flow falls to 350,500 − 120,450 = 230,050 CU; DSCR = 230,050 ÷ 288,000 = 0.80. Cutting cash flow itself by 10% gives 315,450 ÷ 288,000 = 1.10; 1.22 is the unchanged ratio; dividing the new cash flow by principal alone (192,000) gives 1.20.
A dairy has annual operating costs of 884,000 CU, depreciation of 30,000 CU, term-loan interest of 96,000 CU and manure income of 30,000 CU. It produces 27,375 litres. What is the full cost of producing one litre of milk, net of manure?
C. 35.80 CU
Net cost = 884,000 + 30,000 + 96,000 − 30,000 = 980,000 CU; ÷ 27,375 L = 35.80 CU/L. Operating cost alone gives 32.29; forgetting to credit manure gives 1,010,000 ÷ 27,375 = 36.89; spreading operating cost over 36,500 L (all cows in milk) gives 24.22.
A dairy term loan of 960,000 CU is repaid in equal monthly instalments over 5 years at 10% a year, compounded monthly. What is the instalment?
C. 20,397 CU
EMI = P·r(1+r)^n / ((1+r)^n − 1) with r = 0.10/12 and n = 60: 960,000 × 0.008333 × 1.6453 ÷ 0.6453 = 20,397 CU. 960,000 ÷ 60 = 16,000 ignores interest; adding flat interest of 10% for 5 years gives 1,440,000 ÷ 60 = 24,000; 8,000 is the first month's interest only.
A broiler batch sells 10,450 kg live at 105 CU/kg with FCR 1.65 and feed at 38 CU/kg; 5,000 chicks were placed at 40 CU. Which single change raises the batch margin the most?
C. Improving FCR from 1.65 to 1.55 at the same weight
FCR 1.55 saves 10,450 × 0.10 × 38 = 39,710 CU. Price +2 adds 10,450 × 2 = 20,900 CU. Chicks −2 saves 5,000 × 2 = 10,000 CU. One point less mortality adds 50 birds × 2.2 kg = 110 kg, worth 110 × 105 = 11,550 CU but costing 110 × 1.65 × 38 = 6,897 CU of feed, net 4,653 CU.
In Porter's value chain for a dairy processing firm, which is a support activity rather than a primary activity?
B. Procurement
Porter's support activities are firm infrastructure, human resource management, technology development and procurement. Inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales, and service are primary.
Frank Knight argued that entrepreneurial profit is the reward for bearing:
A. Uncertainty that cannot be measured or insured
Knight separated insurable risk from uninsurable uncertainty and tied profit to the latter. Family labour and forgone interest are imputed costs, not Knightian profit.
A telemedicine start-up finds that farmers will not pay per call, but cooperatives will pay for a monthly service to their members. The founders keep the service and change who pays. In lean start-up language this is:
C. A pivot
A pivot changes a fundamental part of the business model (here the customer segment and revenue model) while keeping what has been learnt. A demo day is an accelerator event; a down round is a fall in valuation; a spin-off is a new firm from a parent organisation.
Which funding source is least suited to a pre-revenue animal diagnostics start-up, and why?
B. A term loan, because there is no steady cash flow to service fixed repayments
Fixed repayments need predictable cash flow, which a pre-revenue venture lacks; equity and grants suit this stage. Angels invest in unlisted early firms, incubator grants are not limited to dairies, and founders commonly invest their own savings.
A veterinary university licenses a new mastitis diagnostic kit to a company in return for a fee and a percentage of sales. This method of technology transfer is called:
D. Licensing with royalty
The university keeps ownership of the technology and earns a fee and royalty from a licensee. A spin-off would be a new firm formed around the technology; a matching grant and contract farming are unrelated mechanisms.
Two scientists form a new company to make a feed additive they invented at their institute, with the institute's agreement. This is:
B. A spin-off company
A spin-off is a new firm founded around a technology from a parent organisation, often with the inventors as founders. A licence leaves production to an existing firm; a franchise uses another firm's brand.
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