Read the passage and answer the following questions:
The Green Revolution successfully increased food production by threefold, but it still couldn't meet the demand of the growing human population. The increased yields were partly due to the use of improved crop varieties, but mainly due to better management practices and the use of agrochemicals such as fertilisers and pesticides. However, farmers in the developing world often find agrochemicals too expensive, and further improvements in yield using conventional breeding methods become challenging. To address the limitations of traditional breeding techniques, scientists developed a technology called tissue culture. Tissue culture involves the regeneration of whole plants from small plant parts (explants) that are grown in a controlled environment, such as a test tube, with specific nutrient media. This ability of explants to regenerate into whole plants is known as totipotency. The nutrient medium used in tissue culture contains carbon sources like sucrose, inorganic salts, vitamins, amino acids, and growth regulators like auxins and cytokinins. By utilising tissue culture techniques, a large number of plants can be propagated rapidly and efficiently, a process known as micro-propagation. These plants are genetically identical to the original plant from which the explants were obtained, making them somaclones. Many important food plants, such as tomato, banana, and apple, have been commercially produced using tissue culture. Another significant application of tissue culture is the recovery of healthy plants from diseased ones. Even if a plant is infected with a virus, the meristem (apical and axillary) regions remain free of the virus. Scientists can remove the virus-free meristem and grow it in vitro to obtain virus-free plants.
The major limitation faced by farmers in the developing world with regard to agrochemicals is:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → High cost of agrochemicals
The passage states that “farmers in the developing world often find agrochemicals too expensive”.
Agrochemicals are fertilisers and pesticides. They helped the Green Revolution raise yields, but their high cost keeps many farmers in poorer countries from using them. This is one reason why other ways of increasing yield, such as tissue culture and GM crops, were developed.
Option (1) Lack of access to agrochemicals — Incorrect. The passage does not say that farmers cannot get agrochemicals. It says they find them too costly.
Option (2) High cost of agrochemicals — Correct. The problem named for farmers in the developing world is the high cost of agrochemicals.
Option (3) Inefficient use of agrochemicals — Incorrect. Inefficient use of agrochemicals is not the limitation given. The point made is about their price.
Option (4) Incompatibility of agrochemicals with existing crop varieties — Incorrect. Agrochemicals raised yields of the existing varieties during the Green Revolution, so they are not incompatible with them.