UPSC Prelims 2016 · Question 52 of 98

UPSC Prelims 2016 question on Agricultural Heritage Systems FAO

The FAO accords the status of ‘Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS)’ to traditional agricultural systems. What is the overall goal of this initiative?

1. To provide modern technology, training in modern farming methods and financial support to local communities of identified GIAHS so as to greatly enhance their agricultural productivity.

2. To identify and safeguard eco-friendly traditional farm practices and their associated landscapes, agricultural biodiversity and knowledge systems of the local communities.

3. To provide Geographical Indication status to all the varieties of agricultural produce in such identified GIAHS

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

  1. 1 and 3 only
  2. 2 only
  3. 2 and 3 only
  4. 1, 2 and 3
Show answer

Answer: B. 2 only

Verdict

The answer is 2 only. GIAHS safeguards traditional farming systems and their landscapes and knowledge, but it does not supply modern technology or Geographical Indication status.

Analysis

Statement 2 is CORRECT and states the goal of the initiative, which is to identify and safeguard eco friendly traditional farm practices together with their associated landscapes, agricultural biodiversity and local knowledge systems. Statement 1 is INCORRECT and inverts the purpose, since providing modern technology and modern farming methods to raise productivity is the opposite of protecting a traditional system. Statement 3 is INCORRECT because the initiative contains no provision for conferring Geographical Indication status, which is a separate intellectual property mechanism.

Source

FAO material on Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems and related reporting.

How to crack it

The word Heritage in the title fixes the objective as conservation, and once that is fixed, any statement promising modernisation contradicts the name itself. This is another of the questions the examiner's own analysis flags as solvable by eliminating one statement. Read the operative noun in an initiative's title as a statement of intent, since heritage means preserve, mission means deliver, and facility means finance.

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