UPSC Agriculture – Chapter 5: Seeds, Mechanisation and Sustainable Farming Practices (25 MCQs)
UPSC Agriculture – Chapter 5: Seeds, Mechanisation and Sustainable Farming Practices (25 MCQs) – 25 questions, subject: Agriculture. Every question has the correct answer with a one-line explanation; tap "Show Answer". Free practice for TNPSC, UPSC, SSC, Bank and RRB exams – Shanmugam IAS Academy, Coimbatore.
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The Seed Replacement Rate measures:
Correct Answer: D [the share of area sown with fresh quality seed instead of farm-saved seed]
Explanation:
SRR compares the area sown with fresh certified or quality seed against farm-saved seed, so it measures the share sown with fresh quality seed.
In the seed multiplication chain, the seed produced by ICAR institutes and farm universities from nucleus seed is called:
Correct Answer: A [breeder seed]
Explanation:
ICAR institutes and State agricultural universities multiply the breeder's nucleus seed into breeder seed, the first stage of the multiplication chain.
The Seeds Act was enacted in:
Correct Answer: C [1966]
Explanation:
The Seeds Act, 1966 regulates the quality of seed of notified varieties, with voluntary certification and mandatory labelling.
India's sui generis system for protecting plant varieties under TRIPS is the:
Correct Answer: C [Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001]
Explanation:
The PPV&FR Act, 2001 is India's sui generis law under TRIPS Article 27.3(b), giving rights to breeders and farmers.
Under the PPV&FR Act, a farmer may NOT:
Correct Answer: D [sell seed of a protected variety as branded seed]
Explanation:
The Act lets farmers save, use, sow, re-sow, exchange, share or sell seed, but not sell it as branded seed of a protected variety.
The Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization was launched in:
Correct Answer: B [2014-15]
Explanation:
SMAM began in 2014-15 as a sub-mission of the National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology.
Namo Drone Didi provides drones to:
Correct Answer: C [women's self-help groups]
Explanation:
Namo Drone Didi, approved in 2023, gives drones to women's self-help groups, who rent out spraying services to farmers.
The Participatory Guarantee System (PGS-India) of organic certification is run by the:
Correct Answer: C [Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare]
Explanation:
PGS-India is run by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare for small farmers who certify one another in local groups.
India's first State to be declared fully organic was:
Correct Answer: B [Sikkim]
Explanation:
January 2016.
Consider the following statements:
1. The Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana supports cluster-based organic farming.
2. Organic food sold under FSSAI's Jaivik Bharat logo must be certified under NPOP or PGS-India.
3. Natural farming always requires third-party certification.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Correct Answer: B [1 and 2 only]
Explanation:
PKVY supports cluster-based organic farming and the Jaivik Bharat logo needs NPOP or PGS-India certification; natural farming needs no third-party certification.
Assertion (A): Custom Hiring Centres are promoted for mechanising small farms in India.
Reason (R): On small and scattered plots, owning a machine is uneconomic because it remains idle most of the year.
Correct Answer: A [Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A]
Explanation:
Both are true, and idle, uneconomic ownership on small plots is exactly why hiring through Custom Hiring Centres is promoted.
Biochar is produced by:
Correct Answer: D [heating biomass with little oxygen]
Explanation:
pyrolysis.
Integrated Pest Management has been India's national policy since:
Correct Answer: D [1985]
Explanation:
India adopted Integrated Pest Management as the cardinal principle of its plant protection policy in 1985, working through Central IPM Centres.
The Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative was developed with support from:
Correct Answer: B [ICRISAT and WWF]
Explanation:
The Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative came out of the ICRISAT–WWF Dialogue Project in India around 2009.
The National Agroforestry Policy was adopted in:
Correct Answer: C [2014]
Explanation:
India adopted the National Agroforestry Policy in 2014 to promote trees on farm bunds and fields.
Arrange the following in chronological order:
1. Seeds Act
2. Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act
3. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana
4. National Seeds Corporation
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Correct Answer: C [4-1-2-3]
Explanation:
1963, 1966, 2001, 2015.
Machines such as the Happy Seeder and Super SMS are subsidised mainly to:
Correct Answer: A [manage crop residue without burning]
Explanation:
The Happy Seeder sows wheat into standing stubble and Super SMS spreads straw, so paddy residue need not be burnt.
Under the Patents Act, which of the following is NOT patentable in India?
Correct Answer: D [Plant varieties and seeds]
Explanation:
Section 3(j) of the Patents Act excludes plants, seeds, varieties and essentially biological processes for producing plants from patents.
Under NPOP, the secretariat for implementation is:
Correct Answer: A [APEDA]
Explanation:
APEDA, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, is the secretariat that implements NPOP.
The ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute, set up in 1912, is located at:
Correct Answer: A [Coimbatore]
Explanation:
The ICAR-Sugarcane Breeding Institute was set up at Coimbatore in 1912 and bred the 'Co' varieties.
Which one of the following best describes the main objective of 'Seed Village Concept'?
Correct Answer: B [Involving the farmers for training in quality seed production and thereby to make available quality seeds to others at appropriate time and affordable cost.]
Explanation:
The Seed Village concept trains farmers in quality seed production so that seed reaches other farmers at the right time and affordable cost.
The substitution of steel for wooden ploughs in agricultural production is an example of
Correct Answer: B [capital-augmenting technological progress]
Explanation:
the same capital becomes more productive.
With reference to organic farming in India, consider the following statements:
1. 'The National Programme for Organic Production' (NPOP) is operated under the guidelines and directions of the Union Ministry of Rural Development.
2. The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) functions as the Secretariat for the implementation of NPOP.
3. Sikkim has become India's first fully organic State.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Correct Answer: B [2 and 3 only]
Explanation:
NPOP is under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
What is the use of biochar in farming?
1. Biochar can be used as a part of the growing medium in vertical farming.
2. When biochar is a part of the growing medium, it promotes the growth of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms.
3. When biochar is a part of the growing medium, it enables the growing medium to retain water for a longer time.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Correct Answer: D [1, 2 and 3]
Explanation:
Biochar in a growing medium, including vertical farming, holds water longer and supports nitrogen-fixing micro-organisms, so all three statements are correct.
What is/are the significance of a practical approach to sugarcane production known as 'Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative'?
1. Seed cost is very low in this compared to the conventional method of cultivation.
2. Drip irrigation can be practised very effectively in this.
3. There is no application of chemical/inorganic fertilisers at all in this.
4. The scope for intercropping is more in this compared to the conventional method of cultivation.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Correct Answer: B [1, 2 and 4 only]
Explanation:
SSI reduces, but does not forbid, chemical fertilisers.
➤ Full notes, maps, tables, a reason for every option and Mains PYQs – U16 · Agriculture (UPSC book, ₹249): www.shanmugamiasacademy.in/study-materials/upsc-agriculture
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