Answers to CE MC Questions (1992-2000)

FARMING

Intensive & Extensive Farming

Year	Ans.	Explanation
9316	D	Photo A is paddi rice cultivation while B is market gardening (growing of vegetables). The harvesting times for rice cultivation are only 2-3 a year and 6-8 for market gardening. So, Answer A is wrong. Rice is NOT a perishable crop. So, Answer B is wrong. Only market gardening is located near the market. So, C is also wrong. Both of them are labour intensive. D is the only choice.
9940	B	Rice cultivation requires a lot of labour and water. They use limited machines because they don’t have much capital.
9524	C	Rice cultivation is NOT capital-intensive.
9429	B	Double-cropping is the growing of two crops in a year. As climate is favourable for farming, double-cropping is possible.
9639	B	High input of fertilizers and draught animals show that it is an intensive way of farming. Little mechanization further proves that it is rice cultivation. D is wrong as shifting cultivation requires NO machines.
9832	C	Frost-free day refers to the day with temperature above 0℃. Guangdong area should have 365 days of frost-free days as it lies in the tropical latitudes. Rainfall is UNEVENLY distributed as it is affected by monsoon climate. Rain mainly comes in summer.
9629	A	Crop rotation means growing of different types of crops in alternate years. Fallowing means the abandonment of fields for a period of time. Both of these methods are used to conserve soil fertility. They are NOT shown in the diagram. ONLY 1 is correct.
9941	C	Rice cultivation is no longer a type of subsistence farming system in South China. It is commercialized. The yield per labour should be low while the yield per hectare should be high as it is a kind of intensive farming.
0043	D	For A, there is abundant supply of farm labour. For B, market is large as it is densely populated. For C, growing season is long. Farming can be practiced all through the years. For D, land competition is keen because of urban encroachment.
9833	C	For intensive farming, per capita yield (= yield per man) should be low; labour input should be high; and amount of fertilizers used should be high.
9224	C	Institutional influence refers to government influence. Most of the farming activities in China are under government control (production responsibility system). But for fertilizers, both chemical and manure are used in farming in South China.
9420	A	No. 5 is wrong as intensive farming should be located in densely populated areas.
9636	B	The labour input for wheat farming should be the lowest as it uses a lot of machines. So, X should be the choice for wheat farming. Labour input should be high for rice farming but machinery input should be the lowest. So, choice Z is the best rather than choice Y.
9319	B	The flooded field and the buffalo show that it is rice cultivation. It can be practiced in poorly-drained soil so as the fields are flooded. Mechanization can be possible.
9523	D	Competition of land in Australia is rare as land is cheap and expansive.
9635	B	There is not heavy application of artificial (chemical) fertilizers in wheat-sheep farming when compared with rice cultivation.
9430	C	A similar question as 9523.
9734	C	Double cropping in Australia is impossible as the growing season is shorter.
0044	D	Arable means the growing of food crops. Mono-culture is the growing of only one type of crop. Pastoral is the keeping of animals in extensive grasslands. They move from one place to another to look for pasture and water.
9235	C	Typhoons and floods rarely occur in temperate regions like SE Australia.

Answers to CE MC Questions (1992-2000)

FARMING

Farming Systems

Year	Ans.	Explanation
0045	C	Diagrams 1 refer to outputs like capital and crops. Diagrams 2 refer to inputs like climate, land and labour. Diagrams 3 refer to processes like ploughing, weeding and harvesting.
9339	D	Market gardening is shown by its scattered fields along the hillslopes.
9521	B	Crops and labour cannot be the outputs of the pig rearing.
9732	D	For A, harvesting is only a process. For B, pest is a farming constraint while tractor is an input. For C, sunshine is an input.
9740	A	Machines are used in intensive commercial farming like market gardening. Examples are rotary cultivators and sprinklers.

Answers to CE MC Questions (1992-2000)

FARMING

Farming in Hong Kong

Year	Ans.	Explanation
9227	D	In 1988, nearly half of the total farmlands in Hong Kong are abandoned because of urban expansion. The most important type of farming activities should be market gardening while the second most important is fish ponds.
9739	A	The locations of poultry (rearing of chickens and ducks) and pig farming are not restricted by physical factors. They can be found anywhere.
9737	C	The setting up of greenhouses is not for lengthening growing season. It is used to protect crops from strong winds, rain and typhoons.
9831	D	A similar question as 9227.
9422	D
9735	A	Harbour reclamation is mainly done is urban areas. So, it doesn’t affect farming in the New Territories. There should be a growing demand for farm produce because of rapid growth of population in Hong Kong.
9849	C	In Australia, technology and skills are provided by the government. Researches are done in universities. But these are lacking in Hong Kong.
0042	D
9337	C	Infertile soil is one of the constraints in Hong Kong but the solution should be the application of more chemical fertilizers.
9320	C	Soil fertility cannot be raised by intensive use of machines.
9526	C	The declining importance of market gardening is due to the loss of farmlands (urban development), loss of farm labour (rural depopulation) and keen competition from Shenzhen and Guangdong areas. The eating habits of Hong Kong have changed from eating rice to eating more vegetables. Such changes should be favourable for the development of market gardening. So, this should not be a main factor responsible for the decline of market gardening.
9423	C	The solution to labour shortage problems should be mechanization.