IBPS Clerk English Sectional Mock Test 05

1. Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the questions that follow. Certain words are given in quotes to help you locate them. Every year, a large share of the fruit and vegetables grown in India spoils before it reaches a plate. Estimates differ, but studies have put post-harvest losses of some perishable crops at well over ten per cent. The causes are rarely dramatic. A truckload of tomatoes waits too long at a crowded market yard; a farmer, unable to store his onions, sells them in a hurry at the lowest price of the season; bananas ripen faster than they can be transported. The obvious answer is more cold storage, and the country has added a great deal of it. Yet much of this capacity has been built for potatoes, which can be stored for months, and is located close to large towns rather than to the villages where crops are harvested. For a small farmer growing leafy vegetables or fruit, a cold store fifty kilometres away is almost as useless as none at all. In recent years, a different model has begun to attract attention. Instead of building large warehouses, some entrepreneurs have installed small, solar-powered cold rooms at the level of a single village or a cluster of villages. Farmers pay a 'modest' daily fee for each crate they store, which allows them to wait a few days for better prices instead of selling the moment they harvest. Because the units run on solar power, they can operate even where the electricity supply is 'irregular'. The model is not without difficulties. The units cost more per tonne of capacity than large warehouses, and their operators must persuade farmers, many of whom have never paid for storage, that the fee is worth it. Some early projects failed because they were placed in villages that grew too little produce to keep the rooms full. Successful operators have learnt to study local cropping patterns before choosing a site, and to link farmers directly with buyers so that stored produce is not simply sold later at the same low price. None of this means that large cold-storage facilities have no role. They remain essential for crops that must be kept for long periods. But the experience of small cold rooms suggests that reducing waste is less a matter of adding capacity in general than of putting the right kind of capacity in the right place.

   Q1.According to the passage, why does much of the existing cold storage fail to help small farmers?

   • A.It runs only on solar power and stops working at night
   • B.It was mostly built for potatoes and is located near large towns, far from the villages where crops are harvested
   • C.It is too small to hold the produce of even one village
   • D.It charges a fee that is higher than the price of the crops
   • E.It is owned by traders who refuse to store vegetables

2. Q2.How does a village-level cold room benefit a farmer, according to the passage?

   • A.It guarantees that he will get the highest price of the season
   • B.It gives him free electricity for his home
   • C.It lets him wait a few days for better prices instead of selling as soon as he harvests
   • D.It allows him to store potatoes for several months
   • E.It removes the need to transport produce to any market

3. Q3.Why are the small cold rooms able to work in places where large stores may not?

   • A.They are cheaper per tonne of capacity than warehouses
   • B.They store only crops that do not spoil
   • C.They run on solar power and can operate even when the electricity supply is irregular
   • D.They do not need any crates or containers
   • E.They are run by the government free of cost

Start the test to answer these. Correct answers and explanations are shown after you submit.