Passage

Passage-5 Historically, the biggest challenge to world agriculture has been to achieve a balance between demand for and supply of food. At the level of individual countries, the demand-supply balance can be a critical policy issue for a closed economy, especially if it is a populous economy and its domestic agriculture is not growing sufficiently enough to ensure food supplies, on an enduring basis; it is not so much and not always, of a constraint for an open, and growing economy, which has adequate exchange surpluses to buy food abroad. For the world as a whole, supply-demand balance is always an inescapable prerequisite for warding off hunger and starvation. However, global availability of adequate supply does not necessarily mean that food would automatically move from countries of surplus to countries of deficit if the latter lack in purchasing power. The uneven distribution of hunger, starvation, under- or malnourishment, etc., at the world-level, thus owes itself to the presence of empty-pocket hungry mouths, overwhelmingly confined to the underdeveloped economies. Inasmuch as 'a two-square meal' is of elemental significance to basic human existence, the issue of worldwide supply of food has been gaining significance, in recent times, both because the quantum and the composition of demand has been undergoing big changes, and because, in recent years, the capabilities of individual countries to generate uninterrupted chain of food supplies have come under strain. Food production, marketing and prices, especially price-affordability by the poor in the developing world, have become global issues that need global thinking and global solutions.

The issue of worldwide supply of food has gained importance mainly because of : 1. overgrowth of the population worldwide 2. sharp decline in the area of food production 3. limitation in the capabilities for sustained supply of food Select the correct answer using the code given below :

(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only ✓ UPSC's answer
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Why the answer is (b)

• The passage explicitly states that the issue of worldwide food supply has gained significance for two main reasons: changes in the quantum and composition of demand, and the strain on individual countries' capabilities to generate uninterrupted food supplies.

• The phrase 'capabilities of individual countries to generate uninterrupted chain of food supplies have come under strain' directly corresponds to statement 3, which mentions the limitation in capabilities for sustained supply.

• The passage does not attribute the recent increase in the issue's importance to 'overgrowth of the population' (statement 1) or a 'sharp decline in the area of food production' (statement 2).

• Instead, it notes that demand changes are due to shifts in quantum and composition, not solely population growth, and that supply issues are about capability strain, not necessarily a decline in production area.

• Therefore, only statement 3 is supported by the text as a primary reason for the issue gaining recent significance.

Why the other options are wrong

(a) 1 and 2 only: Statement 1 is not cited as a primary reason for the recent increase in significance, and statement 2 is not mentioned in the passage.
(c) 2 and 3 only: Statement 2 regarding a sharp decline in food production area is not supported by the passage.
(d) 1, 2 and 3: Statements 1 and 2 are not identified in the passage as the main reasons for the issue gaining recent importance.

Asked in the CSAT Paper II of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2016, held on 7 August 2016. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.