Farmers in a Karnataka village sign contracts with a multinational company that supplies seeds, inputs and know-how, and buys their gherkins at a fixed price. Which of the following is NOT likely to follow from this arrangement?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Cultivation becomes ecologically sustainable as chemical input use falls.
Option (1) Farm land is diverted away from food grain production. — Likely to follow from contract farming. Contract farming of export products such as flowers and gherkins takes farm land away from growing food grains.
Option (2) Farmers' own indigenous knowledge of farming becomes irrelevant. — Likely to follow from contract farming. The company supplies the know-how and decides the crop. This disengages farmers from the production process and makes their own indigenous knowledge of agriculture irrelevant.
Option (3) Cultivation becomes ecologically sustainable as chemical input use falls. — Not likely to follow from contract farming. Contract farming usually needs high doses of fertilisers and pesticides. Chemical use goes up, so such farming is often not ecologically sustainable.
Option (4) Farmers grow more dependent on the company for their livelihood. — Likely to follow from contract farming. A fixed buyer looks like financial security. Yet farmers come to depend on the company for their livelihood, which can make them more insecure.
NCERT (2026-27): “4.6 Globalisation, Liberalisation, and Rural Society … |