One Proposal for Preserving Rain Forests is to Promote the Adoption of New Agricultural Technologies

Reading Passage Question

One proposal for preserving rain forests is to promote the adoption of new agricultural technologies, such as improved plant varieties and use of chemical herbicides, which would increase productivity and slow deforestation by reducing demand for new cropland. Studies have shown that farmers in developing countries who have achieved certain levels of education, wealth, and security of land tenure are more likely to adopt such technologies. But these studies have focused on villages with limited land that are tied to a market economy rather than on the relatively isolated, self-sufficient communities with ample land characteristic of rain-forest regions. A recent study of the Tawahka people of the Honduran rain forest found that farmers with some formal education were more likely to adopt improved plant varieties but less likely to use chemical herbicides and that those who spoke Spanish (the language of the market economy) were more likely to adopt both technologies. Non-land wealth was also associated with more adoption of both technologies, but availability of uncultivated land reduced the incentive to employ the productivity-enhancing technologies. Researchers also measured land-tenure security: in Tawahka society, kinship ties are a more important indicator of this than are legal property rights, so researchers measured it by a household’s duration of residence in its village. They found that longer residence correlated with more adoption of improved plant varieties but less adoption of chemical herbicides.

“One proposal for preserving rain forests is to promote the adoption of new agricultural technologies” - this is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Candidates need a strong knowledge of English GMAT reading comprehension.

This GMAT Reading Comprehension consists of 4 comprehension questions. The GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are designed for the purpose of testing candidates’ abilities in understanding, analyzing, and applying information or concepts. Candidates can actively prepare with the help of GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solution and Explanation

1. The primary purpose of the passage is to

(A) evaluate the likelihood that a particular proposal, if implemented, would ultimately succeed in achieving its intended result
(B) question the assumption that certain technological innovations are the most effective means of realizing a particular environmental objective
(C) discuss the progress of efforts to encourage a particular traditional society to adopt certain modern agricultural methods
(D) present the results of new research suggesting that previous findings concerning one set of conditions may not be generalizable to another set of conditions
(E) weigh the relative importance of three factors in determining whether a particular strategy will be successful

2. According to the passage, the proposal mentioned in line 1 is aimed at preserving rain forests by encouraging farmers in rain-forest regions to do each of the following EXCEPT

(A) adopt new agricultural technologies
(B) grow improved plant varieties
(C) decrease their use of chemical herbicides
(D) increase their productivity
(E) reduce their need to clear new land for cultivation

3. The passage suggests that in the study mentioned in line 27 the method for gathering information about security of land tenure reflects which of the following pairs of assumptions about Tawahka society?

(A) The security of a household’s land tenure depends on the strength of that household’s kinship ties, and the duration of a household’s residence in its village is an indication of the strength of that household’s kinship ties.
(B) The ample availability of land makes security of land tenure unimportant, and the lack of a need for secure land tenure has made the concept of legal property rights unnecessary.
(C) The strength of a household’s kinship ties is a more reliable indicator of that household’s receptivity to new agricultural technologies than is its quantity of non land wealth, and the duration of a household’s residence in its village is a more reliable indicator of that household’s security of land tenure than is the strength of its kinship ties.
(D) Security of land tenure based on kinship ties tends to make farmers more receptive to the use of improved plant varieties, and security of land tenure based on long duration of residence in a village tends to make farmers more receptive to the use of chemical herbicides.
(E) A household is more likely to be receptive to the concept of land tenure based on legal property rights if it has easy access to uncultivated land, and a household is more likely to uphold the tradition of land tenure based on kinship ties if it possesses a significant degree of non-land wealth.

4. The findings of the study mentioned in the highlighted text, if valid for rain-forest regions in general, suggest that which of the following is an obstacle most likely to be faced by those wishing to promote rain-forest preservation by implementing the proposal mentioned in line 1?

(A) Lack of legal property rights tends to discourage local farmers from investing the time and resources required to successfully implement new agricultural technologies.
(B) The ability to evaluate the wider economic ramifications of adopting new agricultural technologies depends on a relatively high level of formal education.
(C) Isolation from the market economy tends to restrict local farmers’ access to new agricultural technologies that could help them to increase their productivity.
(D) Ready availability of uncultivated land tends to decrease local farmers’ incentive to adopt new agricultural technologies that would reduce their need to clear new land for cultivation.
(E) Traditions of self-sufficiency and reliance on kinship ties tend to diminish local farmers’ receptivity to new agricultural technologies introduced by people from outside the local community

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