Read the passage and answer the questions:
These are indicators of the process of globalisation of agriculture, or the incorporation of agriculture into the larger global market - a process that has had direct effects on farmers and rural society. For instance, in some regions such as Punjab and Karnataka, farmers enter into contracts with multinational companies (such as PepsiCo) to grow certain crops (such as tomatoes and potatoes), which the companies then buy from them for processing or export. In such 'contract farming' systems, the company identifies the crops to be grown, provides the seeds and other inputs, as well as the knowhow and often also the working capital. In return, the farmer is assured of a market because the company guarantees that it will purchase the produce at a predetermined fixed price. Contract farming is very common now in the production of specialised items such as cut flowers, fruits such as grapes, figs and pomegranates, cotton and oil seeds. While contract farming appears to provide financial security to farmers, it can also lead to greater insecurity as farmers become dependent on these companies for their livelihoods. Contract farming of export-oriented products such as flowers and gherkins also means that agricultural land is diverted from food grain production. Contract farming has sociological significance in that it disengages many people from the production process and makes their own indigenous knowledge of agriculture irrelevant. In addition, contract farming caters primarily to the production of elite items, and because it usually requires high doses of fertilisers and pesticides, it is often not ecologically sustainable.
The system described in the passage is possible due to which process?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Globalisation
Option (1) Globalisation — Correct. The passage opens by calling these developments indicators of the process of globalisation of agriculture, that is, the incorporation of agriculture into the larger global market. A farmer in Punjab or Karnataka can grow tomatoes and potatoes for a multinational company such as PepsiCo, which buys them for processing or export, only because farming has been linked to the global market. Globalisation is the process; contract farming is one of its results.
Option (2) Contract farming — Incorrect. Contract farming is the system the passage describes: the company chooses the crop, supplies seeds, inputs and know-how, and buys the produce at a fixed price. The question asks which process made this system possible, so the system cannot be its own cause.
Option (3) Trans National Corporation — Incorrect. Transnational corporations (TNCs) are companies that produce goods or market services in more than one country, such as PepsiCo in the passage. A TNC is an actor inside the system, the company that signs the contract; it is not a process.
Option (4) Glocalisation — Incorrect. Glocalisation is the mixing of the global with the local, a strategy foreign firms use to fit their products to local traditions, as when foreign television channels use Indian languages. The passage is about farmers being drawn into the global market, not about a global product taking a local form.
Note: The passage of Q1-Q5 is taken from the NCERT chapter ‘Change and Development in Rural Society’, its paragraph on contract farming under globalisation. One paragraph of the book gave a full set of five questions here, so read each section of this chapter closely.
NCERT (2025-26): “4.6 Globalisation, Liberalisation, and Rural Society … These are indicators of the process of globalisation of agriculture, or the incorporation of agriculture into the larger global market – a process that has had direct effects on farmers and rural society. For instance, in some regions such as Punjab and Karnataka, farmers enter into contracts with multinational companies (such as PepsiCo) to grow certain crops (such as tomatoes and potatoes), which the companies then buy from them for processing or export. In such ‘contract farming’ systems, the company identifies the crop to be grown, provides the seeds and other inputs, as well as the know-how and often also the working capital. In return, the farmer is assured of a market because the company guarantees that it will purchase the produce at a predetermined fixed price.…” |