GS Paper III — Q3
Explain the factors influencing the decision of the farmers on the selection of high value crops in India. (Answer in 150 words)
हिंदी में प्रश्न पढ़ें
भारत में किसानों द्वारा उच्च मूल्य वाली फसलों के चयन के निर्णय को प्रभावित करने वाले कारकों की व्याख्या कीजिए। (उत्तर 150 शब्दों में दीजिए)
Model answer
Drafted with AI by UPSC Answer Check against this question's marking rubric, to the 150-word length. UPSC does not publish answers for Mains — this is one way to score well, not an official key. How we build rubrics and answers.
High-Value Crops (HVCs) like fruits, vegetables, and spices offer higher net returns per hectare, but farmers’ adoption depends on interconnected structural factors.
Economic and Capital Realities: While HVCs yield lucrative input-output ratios, high price volatility and lack of open-ended MSP elevate market risk compared to staple cereals. Furthermore, substantial initial capital requirements make credit availability through Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) decisive.
Agro-Ecological Suitability: Soil health, water access, and climate resilience drive crop choices, seen in niche crops like saffron in Kashmir, vanilla in the Western Ghats, and protected exotic vegetables in water-secure zones.
Infrastructure and Market Access: Due to high perishability, proximity to urban consumption centers, integrated cold chains, processing units, and APEDA-backed export zones determines economic viability.
Institutional Support and Policy Push: Diversification missions in water-stressed regions like Punjab-Haryana, supported by contract farming under APMC reforms, extension awareness, and yield protection under PMFBY, actively catalyze transition.
Strengthening post-harvest logistics and farmer collectives will sustain this transition toward resilient, export-oriented, and organic high-value agriculture.
How this answer will be evaluated
Framework: GS3 Agriculture: Cropping patterns and farmer decisions
What earns full marks: 4-5 distinct factors with specific Indian examples and schemes and clear logic.
Evaluation rubric
Each sub-part is marked on its own, against the marks and word limit printed on the paper.
- The answer Explain the factors that influence Indian farmers' choice of high-value crops. 10 marks · 150 words
explain— definition/context → points in order → small example → short close
Must cover
- Define high-value crops with examples (fruits, vegetables, spices, flowers, dairy-fodder)
- Market demand and price signals, including price volatility
- Water, soil and agro-climatic suitability
- Capital, credit, infrastructure (cold chain, processing) and government support
Loses marks
- Generic crop-choice factors not specific to high-value crops
- Focusing only on MSP without market dynamics
- Ignoring risk
Earns more
- Schemes: MIDH, PMKSY (micro-irrigation), Operation Greens, PMFBY
- Risk: perishability, climate sensitivity, lack of MSP cover
- Small and fragmented holdings; FPOs as a solution
- Contract farming, exports (APEDA) and urban proximity
Extra mark
- Statistic on horticulture (e.g., output exceeding foodgrains, about 350+ million tonnes)
- A regional example (e.g., Himachal apples, Maharashtra grapes, Kashmir saffron)
What "Explain" is asking you to do
Make the working of something clear — what sets it off, what follows from what, and what it produces. Explain is the Commission's mechanism word: it dominates the technical papers and the “explain why” stems, where the marks sit in the causal chain and not in the label.
Structure that answers it
State what it is → the initiating condition → the chain of cause, step by step → an instance where it plays out → what the chain produces
Where marks are lost
Describing what something looks like instead of why it works that way. Naming the stages without linking them reads as description too.
Practice this exact question
Write your answer and it is marked point by point against the model answer above — what you covered, what you missed, what you got wrong.
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