Passage
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 worldlevel, 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.
QUESTION
CSAT
Easy
Comprehension
Prelims 2016
The issue of worldwide supply of food has gained importance mainly because of:
- overgrowth of the population worldwide.
- sharp decline in the area of food production.
- limitation in the capabilities for sustained supply of food.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Select an option to attempt
Other Questions from this Passage
- ComprehensionView Answer for: According to the above passage, which of the following are the fundamental solutions for the world food security problem? Setting up more agro-based industries. Improving the price affordability by the poor. Regulating the conditions of marketing. Providing food subsidy to one and all.Select the correct answer using the code given below:
According to the above passage, which of the following are the fundamental solutions for the world food security problem?
- Setting up more agro-based industries.
- Improving the price affordability by the poor.
- Regulating the conditions of marketing.
- Providing food subsidy to one and all.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
- ComprehensionView Answer for: According to the above passage, the biggest challenge to world agriculture is
According to the above passage, the biggest challenge to world agriculture is
- ComprehensionView Answer for: According to the above passage, which of the following helps/help in reducing hunger and starvation in the developing economics? Balancing demand and supply of food. Increasing imports of food. Increasing purchasing power of the poor. Changing the food consumption patterns and practices.Select the correct answer using the code given below:
According to the above passage, which of the following helps/help in reducing hunger and starvation in the developing economics?
- Balancing demand and supply of food.
- Increasing imports of food.
- Increasing purchasing power of the poor.
- Changing the food consumption patterns and practices.
Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Trusted by 2L aspirants
Practice UPSC Prelims PYQs Smarter

- Track accuracy & weak areas
- See past trends & repeated themes
Crack UPSC with your
Personal AI Mentor
An AI-powered ecosystem to learn, practice, and evaluate with discipline
