63 questions. Try each one, then open the answer to check yourself and read the explanation.
Subsistence agriculture mainly involves
Answer: C (food production using family labour)
Subsistence farmers grow food for their families using family labour.
The major export crops produced in the West African subregion include
Answer: C (cocoa, rubber, groundnut and cotton)
Cocoa, rubber, groundnut and cotton are traditional export crops; tomato, pepper and cassava are mainly eaten locally.
A major problem of grains storage in the rain forest zone of West Africa is high
Answer: D (humidity)
Humid air makes stored grain damp, so moulds and insects thrive.
When the government provides subsidies in agriculture,
Answer: A (farm inputs are made available to farmers at reduced prices)
A subsidy means government pays part of the cost, so inputs are cheaper.
Plant quarantine regulations are enforced to
Answer: A (prevent the introduction of foreign pests and diseases)
Quarantine checks imported plants so new pests and diseases are kept out.
The primary purpose of establishing wildlife reserve is to
Answer: B (prevent extinction of wild animals)
Reserves protect wild animals so that species do not die out.
The most important factor that limits agricultural production in West Africa is
Answer: C (rainfall)
Temperature and light are favourable all year; rainfall amount and timing decide what can be grown and when.
An acidic soil can be neutralised by the addition of
Answer: C (wood ash)
Wood ash is alkaline (rich in potassium and calcium carbonates) so it neutralises acidity; ammonium sulphate makes soil more acidic.
Capillarity is highest in
Answer: D (clay)
Clay has the finest pores, and water rises highest in the narrowest pores.
Which of the following describes the effects of excessive nitrogen application on the growth of maize plants?
Answer: A (High vegetative growth with low yield)
Too much nitrogen gives lush leaves and stems but delays and reduces grain yield (and causes lodging).
Which reaction takes place in nitrogen fixation during lightening?
Answer: B (N2 + O2 → 2NO)
The heat of lightning makes nitrogen and oxygen in the air combine to form nitrogen oxide.
Nitrogen is taken up by plant roots in the form of
Answer: A (nitrate ion)
Plants absorb nitrogen mainly as nitrate (NO3−) ions.
When soils are poorly drained
Answer: C (the air content of the soil is reduced)
Water fills the pore spaces and drives the air out.
Which of the following sources of water is least useful for irrigation purposes?
Answer: A (Sea)
Sea water is salty and would kill crops and spoil the soil.
Which of the following sources of farm power is most flexible and adaptable to farm operations?
Answer: C (human power)
People can think and do almost any farm job, from planting to harvesting.
Which of the following sources of power supply to the farm is most unreliable?
Answer: A (wind)
Wind speed and direction change all the time and it may not blow at all.
Animal power is usually used on the farm for
Answer: C (ploughing)
Work animals (bulls, donkeys) are mostly used to pull ploughs.
The most appropriate farm implement for breaking up soil clod is the
Answer: A (harrow)
The harrow breaks the clods left by ploughing into a fine tilth.
The daily maintenance practice carried out on a disc harrow is
Answer: B (cleaning the soil off the disc)
After each day's use the soil is cleaned off the discs to prevent rust.
Which of the following is an advantage of mechanization?
Answer: A (Carrying out many farm operations with ease)
Machines make farm work easier and faster; the other options are drawbacks.
Sexual propagation involves the use of
Answer: B (seeds)
Seeds come from fertilisation, so propagating by seed is sexual.
The process of inducing root development on portions of stems still attached to the parent plant is known as
Answer: C (layering)
In layering a stem is made to root while still attached to the parent plant.
Which of the following crops requires shade in the early stages of its growth in the field?
Answer: D (Cocoa)
Young cocoa needs shade, often from plantain or cocoyam.
Which of the following groups of crops is widely grown in areas with high rainfall?
Answer: A (Cocoa, oil palm, rubber and kola)
Cocoa, oil palm, rubber and kola are rain-forest tree crops.
An important forage crop in West Africa is
Answer: C (giant star grass)
Giant star grass is grown mainly to feed livestock; the others are grown mainly as food grains.
The most important reason for encouraging afforestation in the arid regions of West Africa is to
Answer: D (serve as wind break)
Tree belts in dry areas break the wind and check desert encroachment.
The growing of both forest trees and arable crops simultaneously on the same piece of land is termed
Answer: D (taungya system)
Taungya grows food crops among young forest trees.
Mosaic disease affects
Answer: C (cassava and tobacco)
Cassava mosaic and tobacco mosaic are well-known viral mosaic diseases.
The following are biting and chewing insects except
Answer: D (moths)
Adult moths suck nectar through a coiled proboscis; caterpillars, beetles and crickets chew.
Mealy bug is a major pest of
Answer: B (cassava)
The cassava mealybug sucks sap and causes bunchy tops and leaf loss.
Weeds which produce light and numerous seeds are normally dispersed by
Answer: A (wind)
Small, light seeds are easily carried by wind.
Which of the following effects is not a consequence of 'Introduction' in crop improvement? Introduced crops
Answer: D (hamper the growth of local varieties)
Introduced varieties bring benefits such as early maturity and high yield; they do not stop local varieties growing.
In which part of the alimentary canal of poultry is grit mostly found?
Answer: C (Gizzard)
Birds keep grit in the gizzard to help grind food.
Parturition in farm animals marks the end of
Answer: D (gestation)
Giving birth ends pregnancy (gestation).
A sow is normally expected to farrow
Answer: C (twice a year)
With a 114-day pregnancy plus nursing, a sow can farrow about twice a year.
Study the diagram (a section of an egg, parts labelled I to VI). The part contributing about 60 percent of the weight of the animal product illustrated in the diagram above is labelled
Answer: C (V)
The albumen (egg white, V) is about 60% of the egg's weight.
Study the diagram (a section of an egg, parts labelled I to VI). The part labelled IV is kept in position by
Answer: B (III)
The chalazae (III) are twisted cords that hold the yolk (IV) in the centre.
Study the diagram (a section of an egg, parts labelled I to VI). Which of the following is not a function of the part labelled I?
Answer: D (Controls the size of the product)
The shell (I) protects the egg and has pores for gas exchange; it does not decide the egg's size.
High temperatures on livestock induces the following effects except
Answer: A (high feed intake)
Hot animals eat less, not more.
Rabbits are kept in cages called
Answer: B (hutches)
Rabbit cages are hutches.
Farm animals are identified by the following methods except
Answer: C (shearing)
Shearing removes wool; it does not mark an animal.
Which of the following is not a characteristic of pigs?
Answer: D (Unlimited ability to digest fibre)
Pigs have a simple stomach and digest fibre poorly.
The sugar most commonly found in the blood of animals is
Answer: A (glucose)
Blood sugar is glucose.
Foot and mouth disease is caused by a
Answer: B (virus)
Foot and mouth disease is viral.
Which of the following symptoms indicate anthrax disease?
Answer: B (Sudden death without any visible sign of sickness)
Anthrax often kills animals suddenly, before signs are seen.
Selection and hybridization are all methods of animal
Answer: D (improvement)
Selection and crossing are used to improve animals.
The system of breeding that is practised when N'dama cows are mated by Muturu bulls is
Answer: C (cross breeding)
N'dama and Muturu are different breeds, so this is cross-breeding.
In a crop production enterprise, a fixed factor of production could be the
Answer: A (size of the land)
Land area stays the same in the short run; labour and capital can be varied.
On a curve for the law of diminishing returns, maximum output is obtained at the
Answer: C (apex of the curve)
Total output is highest at the peak (apex); after it output falls.
Farm accounts help the farmer to
Answer: A (manage the farm as a business)
Accounts show costs, income and profit so the farm can be run as a business.
A maize farmer obtains a loan of N120,000.00 at an interest rate of 9% to be repaid in one year. Calculate the interest to be paid on the loan
Answer: A (N10,800.00)
Interest = 9% of 120,000 = N10,800.
Agricultural extension programme
Answer: A (promotes practical application of useful agricultural information)
Extension helps farmers put useful research findings into practice.
In the mass method of agricultural extension, information is passed to farmers through the following channels except
Answer: D (farm visits)
Farm visits are an individual method; the others are mass media.
(a) State five objectives each of (i) Farm Settlement Scheme and (ii) Agricultural Development Programme.
(b) State six roles of cooperative organisations in agricultural production.
(a)(i) Farm Settlement Scheme (any five): attract young school leavers into farming; reduce unemployment; teach modern farming methods; check rural–urban drift by developing rural areas; raise food production and farmers' income; provide model farms for nearby farmers; overcome land tenure problems
(ii) ADP (any five): raise food production and farm incomes; supply inputs (seeds, fertilizers, chemicals) through farm service centres; intensify extension contact with farmers; build rural roads, earth dams, boreholes; support mechanisation (tractor hiring); improve rural living standards
(b) Any six: supply inputs in bulk at lower cost; give credit to members; provide storage and processing facilities; market members' produce at better prices; provide machinery and transport; educate and train members; spread risks; encourage large-scale production; employment
Five objectives for each programme, then six cooperative roles.
(a) List six types of land tenure systems.
(b) Discuss five reasons why the government should enforce the land use legislation.
(a) Any six: communal; inheritance; freehold/outright purchase; leasehold; gift; pledge; rent/tenancy (share cropping); state/government ownership
(b) Any five, discussed: gives security of tenure so farmers are not evicted unfairly; ensures good land is kept for farming, not wasted on other uses; makes large areas available for government farms and projects; prevents fragmentation and allows consolidation of holdings; reduces land disputes and court cases; allows land improvement such as irrigation and conservation; makes land easier to get for those who want to farm
Six types as a list; five reasons each with a short explanation.
(a) State five effects of each of the following practices on crop production: (i) Irrigation (ii) Drainage
(b) List four methods of surface irrigation.
(c) Give two main reasons why surface drainage is often necessary in crop production.
(a)(i) Irrigation (any five): allows dry-season and all-year cropping; raises yields; softens soil for tillage; dissolves nutrients for roots; cools the crop; may cause salinity, waterlogging, leaching or spread of weeds and water-borne diseases
(ii) Drainage (any five): removes excess water; improves aeration for roots; warms the soil earlier; increases microbial activity and decomposition; lets roots grow deeper; prevents toxic substances building up; makes tillage and harvesting easier; reclaims swampy land
(b) Any four: flood (wild flooding); furrow; basin; border strip; check flooding
(c) Any two: to remove excess surface (rain or flood) water quickly and prevent waterlogging; to prevent erosion from run-off; to improve aeration and workability of the soil
Give both good and bad effects of irrigation.
(a) State three functions of nitrogen in crop plants.
(b) Mention four effects of excess soil nitrogen and three effects of nitrogen deficiency on plants.
(c) Apart from lightning, state three other ways by which nitrogen is added to the soil?
(d) List six soil micro nutrients
(a) Any three: part of proteins and protoplasm; part of chlorophyll, giving dark green leaves; promotes vegetative (leaf and stem) growth; increases protein content of grain; helps uptake of other nutrients
(b) Excess (any four): too much leafy growth; delays flowering and maturity; weak stems and lodging; lower quality/low grain yield; more disease attack; soft, watery tissues
Deficiency (any three): yellowing (chlorosis) of older leaves; stunted growth; small leaves; early maturity with low yield; thin stems
(c) Any three: fertilizer application (inorganic); organic manure (farmyard manure, compost); symbiotic fixation by Rhizobium in legume nodules; free-living bacteria (Azotobacter, Clostridium) and blue-green algae; decomposition of plant and animal remains
(d) Any six: iron; manganese; zinc; copper; boron; molybdenum; chlorine
Separate excess from deficiency effects.
(a) Describe briefly four methods of weed dispersal.
(b) Describe three mechanical and three cultural methods of weed control.
(a) Any four: wind – light seeds with hairs or wings (e.g. Tridax); water – floating seeds carried by run-off and irrigation; animals – hooked/sticky seeds on fur and clothes, or seeds eaten and passed in dung; man – in impure crop seed, on tools, machines and vehicles; explosive pods that burst and throw seeds (self-dispersal); vegetative spread by rhizomes and stolons
(b) Mechanical (any three): hand pulling; hoeing; slashing/mowing with cutlass or mower; tillage (ploughing, harrowing); burning; flooding
Cultural (any three): crop rotation; mulching; cover cropping; close spacing/high plant population; timely planting; use of clean seed; fallowing
Explain how each method works.
(a) In a tabular form, name one fungal disease, one viral disease and one pest of any four of the following crops: (i) citrus (ii) banana (iii) tomato (iv) yam (v) groundnut
(b) State six general control measures of diseases of crops
(a) Any four rows:
Citrus – fungal: gummosis/foot rot, scab; viral: tristeza; pest: citrus fruit moth, aphids, fruit flies
Banana – fungal: Sigatoka leaf spot, Panama disease; viral: bunchy top; pest: banana weevil, nematodes
Tomato – fungal: damping off, early blight, Fusarium wilt; viral: tomato leaf curl, mosaic; pest: whitefly, root-knot nematode, fruit worm
Yam – fungal: anthracnose, tuber rot; viral: yam mosaic; pest: yam beetle, nematodes, mealybugs
Groundnut – fungal: Cercospora leaf spot, rust; viral: rosette; pest: aphids, termites, millipedes
(b) Any six: plant resistant varieties; use disease-free seeds and planting materials; crop rotation; seed dressing; spraying fungicides/chemicals; uprooting and burning infected plants (sanitation); control of insect vectors; proper spacing and drainage; quarantine; early planting; fallowing
Set (a) out as a table with crops in rows.
(a)(i) What is culling? (ii) Give three reasons why culling is practised in livestock management.
(b) State three advantages and three disadvantages of each of the following management systems in poultry production: (i) deep litter system (ii) battery cage system
(a)(i) Culling is removing unproductive, sick, old or otherwise undesirable animals from a flock or herd
(ii) Any three: remove poor producers to raise efficiency; remove sick animals to stop spread of disease; remove animals with bad traits from breeding; reduce feed cost; reduce overcrowding
(b)(i) Deep litter – advantages: cheaper than cages; birds can move and exercise; litter makes good manure; fewer leg and breast problems; disadvantages: diseases such as coccidiosis spread easily; floor/dirty eggs; cannibalism and egg eating; litter may become wet and smelly; harder to identify poor layers
(ii) Battery cage – advantages: more birds per space; clean eggs, easy collection; easy to cull poor layers and keep records; less disease from droppings; less feed wastage and fighting; disadvantages: high cost of cages; birds cannot exercise (cage layer fatigue, leg problems); eggs infertile; needs electricity/skill; fly problems from droppings
Define culling, then three of each for both systems.
(a) Define the term "disease"
(b) State the difference between resistance and susceptibility to diseases.
(c) Enumerate four economic importance of animal diseases.
(d) List three factors which determine the degree of resistance of an animal to a disease.
(e) Outline three conditions that may inactivate a pathogenic organism.
(a) Disease is any condition in which the normal functioning of the animal's body is disturbed, shown by signs such as fever, poor appetite or poor production
(b) Resistance is the ability of an animal to withstand attack by disease organisms; susceptibility is being easily attacked by them (lack of resistance)
(c) Any four: deaths of animals; lower production (meat, milk, eggs); cost of treatment and vaccines; poor quality products/lower market value; some diseases spread to man (zoonoses); infertility and abortion; loss of income
(d) Any three: age; breed/heredity; nutrition; previous infection or vaccination (immunity); health status/stress; sex; environment and management
(e) Any three: high temperature (heat, boiling, sterilising); disinfectants and chemicals; sunlight/ultraviolet light; drying; antibiotics and drugs; extreme pH
Short definitions, then lists.
Explain the following terms used in agricultural production:
(a) hired labour
(b) fixed capital
(c) working capital
(d) management
(a) Hired labour: workers employed and paid wages (daily, weekly or monthly) to do farm work, as opposed to family labour
(b) Fixed capital: durable assets used over many production seasons, e.g. land improvements, buildings, machinery, tree crops, breeding stock
(c) Working (circulating) capital: inputs used up within one production cycle, e.g. seeds, fertilizer, feed, chemicals, cash for wages
(d) Management: the organising and controlling of land, labour and capital, taking decisions and bearing risks to make profit (the entrepreneur)
One clear definition with an example for each.
(a) Explain the term "marketing"
(b) State five importance of marketing in agriculture.
(c) Mention five marketing functions.
(d) In what four ways can the marketing of agricultural produce be encouraged?
(a) Marketing is all the activities involved in moving farm produce from the producer to the final consumer, including buying, selling, assembling, storage, processing, transport and pricing
(b) Any five: gives farmers income; encourages more production; makes produce available where and when needed; reduces waste; creates jobs; supplies raw materials to industries; earns foreign exchange; stabilises prices
(c) Any five: assembling; grading and standardisation; processing; packaging; storage; transportation; financing; risk bearing; pricing; advertising; selling/distribution
(d) Any four: good rural roads and transport; storage and processing facilities; market information; formation of cooperatives; guaranteed minimum prices; credit to farmers and traders; grading and standards; reduce levies and taxes
Define, then lists for (b) to (d).