Horticultural crops such as fruits, vegetables and flowers play a vital role in:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → providing food and nutrition, besides addressing employment concerns
Horticultural crops give food and nutrition. They also give employment to many people.
Option (1) providing food and nutrition, besides addressing employment concerns — Correct. This is the role of horticultural crops.
Option (2) acting, by themselves, as a catalyst of change — Incorrect. This phrase is about IT, which is by itself no catalyst of change.
Option (3) building buffer stocks managed by the Food Corporation of India — Incorrect. Buffer stocks are of wheat and rice, not fruits and flowers.
Option (4) providing alternate livelihood options to over 70 million small and marginal farmers — Incorrect. This is said of the livestock sector.
NCERT (2026-27): “5.5 Diversification into Productive Activities … Horticulture: Blessed with a varying climate and soil conditions, India has adopted growing of diverse horticultural crops such as fruits, vegetables, tuber crops, flowers, medicinal and aromatic plants, spices and plantation crops. These crops play a vital role in providing food and nutrition, besides addressing employment concerns. Horticulture sector contributes nearly one-third of the value of agriculture output and six per cent of Gross Domestic Product of India. …” |