Passage

A landscape-scale approach to land use can encourage greater biodiversity outside protected areas. During hurricane ‘Mitch’ in 1998, farms using ecoagricultural practices suffered 58 percent, 70 percent and 99 percent less damage in Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala, respectively, than farms using conventional techniques. In Costa Rica, vegetative windbreaks and fencerows boosted farmers’ income from pasture and coffee while also increasing bird diversity. Bee pollination is more effective when agricultural fields are closer to natural or seminatural habitat, a finding that matters because 87 percent of the world’s 107 leading crops depend on animal pollinators. In Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Colombia silvopastoral systems that integrate trees with pastureland are improving the sustainability of cattle production, and diversifying and increasing farmers’ income.

Question

CSATEasyPrelims 2017Comprehension

Which among the following is the most logical and rational inference that can be made from the above passage?

Explanation

Option A is correct. Because the passage highlights that ecoagricultural practices have helped reduce disaster damage (e.g., during Hurricane Mitch) and enhanced income while supporting biodiversity. This implies that practices that support biodiversity can indeed reduce vulnerability to disasters and increase farm productivity, confirming Option A.

Option B is not correct. Because the passage does not suggest replacing ecoagriculture with conventional agriculture. In fact, ecoagriculture is presented as beneficial, with specific examples where it outperformed conventional methods in terms of damage reduction and income improvement. Hence, this statement is unsupported.

Option C is not correct. Because the passage does not make the claim that ecoagriculture should be implemented in protected areas at the expense of biodiversity. The focus is on promoting biodiversity through agricultural practices outside of protected areas, not within them.

Option D is not correct. Because the passage does not claim that the yield of food crops will always be very high if ecoagriculture is adopted. It emphasizes other benefits such as reduced disaster vulnerability, increased income, and biodiversity, but not necessarily higher food crop yields.