Read the passage and answer the questions:
Market Gardening and Horticulture
Market gardening and horticulture specialise in the cultivation of high value crops such as vegetables, fruits and flowers, solely for the urban markets. Farms are small and are located where there are good transportation links with the urban centre where a high income group of consumers is located. It is both labour and capital intensive and lays emphasis on the use of irrigation, HYV seeds, fertilisers, insecticides, greenhouses and artificial heating in colder regions. This type of agriculture is well-developed in densely populated industrial districts of northwest Europe, north-eastern United States of America and the Mediterranean regions. The Netherlands specialises in growing flowers and horticultural crops, especially tulips, which are flown to all major cities of Europe. The regions where farmers specialise in vegetables only, the farming is known as truck farming. The distance of truck farms from the market is governed by the distance that a truck can cover overnight, hence the name truck farming. In addition to market gardening, a modern development in the industrial regions of Western Europe and North America is factory farming. Livestock, particularly poultry and cattle rearing, is done in stalls and pens, fed on manufactured feedstuff and carefully supervised against diseases. This requires heavy capital investment in terms of building, machinery for various operations, veterinary services and heating and lighting. One of the important features of poultry farming and cattle rearing is breed selection and scientific breeding.
Farming where farmers specialise in vegetables only is known as what?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Truck farming
Option (1) Truck farming — Correct. Where farmers specialise in vegetables only, the farming is called truck farming. The name comes from the distance a truck can cover overnight, which decides how far such farms lie from the market.
Option (2) Mixed Farming — Incorrect. Mixed farms grow crops such as wheat, barley, oats, maize and fodder and rear animals together; they do not specialise in vegetables.
Option (3) Kolkhoz — Incorrect. Kolkhoz is the model of collective farming of the former Soviet Union, based on social ownership of the means of production and collective labour.
Option (4) Fazenda — Incorrect. Fazendas are large coffee plantations in Brazil.
Note: This passage is NCERT’s section ‘Market Gardening and Horticulture’ from the chapter ‘Primary Activities’ (Fundamentals of Human Geography), almost word for word. Plot twist: the ‘unseen’ passage on truck farming and tulips was a page of the book you had already read — five easy marks for anyone who read it slowly.
Note: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2023 on 23-06-2023 (Slot 3), 18-06-2023 (Slot 2) and 31-05-2023 (Slot 2), and in CUET (UG) 2022 on 30-08-2022 (Slot 1).
NCERT (2025-26): “Market Gardening and Horticulture … The regions where farmers specialise in vegetables only, the farming is know as truck farming. The distance of truck farms from the market is governed by the distance that a truck can cover overnight, hence the name truck farming.…” “Plantation Agriculture … Some coffee fazendas (large plantations) in Brazil are still managed by Europeans.…” “Mixed Farming … This form of agriculture is found in the highly developed parts of the world, e.g. North-western Europe, Eastern North America, parts of Eurasia and the temperate latitudes of Southern continents (Fig. 4.14). Mixed farms are moderate in size and usually the crops associated with it are wheat, barley, oats, rye, maize, fodder and root crops.…” “Collective Farming … The basic principle behind this types of farming is based on social ownership of the means of production and collective labour. Collective farming or the model of Kolkhoz was introduced in erstwhile Soviet Union to improve upon the inefficiency of the previous methods of agriculture and to boost agricultural production for self-sufficiency.…” |