UPSC Prelims 2016·CSAT·Reading Comprehension·Passage Comprehension

Historically, the biggest Challenge to world agriculture has been to achieve a balance between demand for and supply of food. At the level of individual countries, the demand-supply balance can be a critical issue for a closed economy, especially if it is a populous economy and its domestic agriculture is not growing sufficiently enough to ensure food supplies, on an enduring basis; it is not so much and not always, of a constraint for an open, and growing economy, which has adequate exchange surpluses to buy food abroad. For the world as a whole, Supply-demand balance is always an inescapable prerequisite for warding off hunger and starvation. However, global availability of adequate supply does not necessarily mean that food would automatically move from countries of surplus to of deficit if the latter lack in purchasing power. The uneven distribution of Inoger, starvation, under or malnourishment, etc., at the world-level, thus owes itself to the presence of empty-pock hungry mouths, overwhelmingly confined to the underdeveloped economies. Inasmuch as 'a two-square meal' is of elemental significance to basic human existence, the issue of worldwide supply' of food has been gaining significance, in recent times, both because the quantum and the composition of demand has been undergoing big changes, and because, in recent years, the capabilities individual countries to generate uninterrupted chain of food supplies have come under strain. Food production, marketing and prices, especially price-affordability by the poor in the developing world, have become global issues that need global thinking and global solutions. The issue of worldwide supply of food has gained importance mainly because of: 1. overgrowth of the population worldwide 2. sharp decline in the area of food production 3. limitation in the capabilities for sustained supply of food Select the correct answer using the code given below:

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  1. A1 and 2 only
  2. B3 onlyCorrect
  3. C2 and 3 only
  4. D1, 2 and 3

Explanation

The passage states that the issue of worldwide supply of food has gained significance "both because the quantum and the composition of demand has been undergoing big changes, and because, in recent years, the capabilities individual countries to generate uninterrupted chain of food supplies have come under strain." 1. "overgrowth of the population worldwide" - The passage mentions "the quantum and the composition of demand has been undergoing big changes." While population growth is a factor in demand, the passage doesn't specifically highlight "overgrowth of the population worldwide" as the *main* reason, but rather the *changes* in demand. It's not as directly stated as the third point. 2. "sharp decline in the area of food production" - The passage does not mention any "sharp decline in the area of food production." It talks about "capabilities...to generate uninterrupted chain of food supplies have come under strain," which is about capability and reliability, not necessarily a decline in area. 3. "limitation in the capabilities for sustained supply of food" - This directly matches the phrase in the passage: "the capabilities individual countries to generate uninterrupted chain of food supplies have come under strain." This is explicitly stated as a reason for the increased significance of the issue. Therefore, only statement 3 is clearly and directly supported by the text as a main reason.
Reading Comprehension: Historically, the biggest Challenge to world agriculture has been to achieve a balance between demand for and supply of

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