Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given after it.
Every year, a large share of India's food is lost not in the field but in the long journey between the farm and the plate. Grain is stored in open yards where rain and rodents take their toll, fruit softens in trucks without refrigeration, and vegetables wait for days at crowded wholesale markets. The farmer receives a fraction of the final price, while the consumer pays for the waste through higher prices.
Experts often argue that the solution lies in building more cold storage. That is only partly true. A cold store that stands far from the farm, or charges more than a small farmer can pay, may remain half empty. What matters equally is how produce is collected, graded and moved. Farmer producer organisations, which pool the harvest of many small growers, can afford to hire refrigerated vans and negotiate better prices. Simple practices, such as harvesting in the cool hours of the morning and using crates instead of sacks, also cut losses at almost no cost.
Technology can help, but only if it fits local conditions. Solar-powered cold rooms have proved useful in villages with unreliable electricity, and mobile applications that share market prices allow farmers to decide when and where to sell. Yet many such tools fail because they are designed far away from the people who must use them. A farmer will adopt a new practice only when he sees a neighbour benefit from it.
Reducing food loss is therefore less a matter of grand projects than of patient, practical changes across a long chain. Each link, from the farm gate to the retail shelf, offers a chance to save food that has already consumed water, labour and fertiliser to produce.
Q1.According to the passage, where is a large share of India's food lost?
- Mainly in the field before harvest
- In the journey between the farm and the consumer
- In household kitchens after purchase
- In government ration shops only
- In export shipments abroad
Q2.Why does the author say that building more cold storage is only partly the solution?
- Cold stores are always overcrowded
- Cold storage is banned in many states
- A cold store far from farms or too costly for small farmers may stay half empty
- Cold storage spoils most fruits
- Farmers do not grow enough to store
Q3.How do farmer producer organisations help reduce losses?
- By pooling the produce of many growers so they can afford refrigerated transport and bargain better
- By running retail shops in cities
- By banning the use of sacks
- By lending money at zero interest to every farmer
- By buying land from small farmers