Consider the following statements :
- 1.India has more arable area than China.
- 2.The proportion of irrigated area is more in India as compared to China.
- 3.The average productivity per hectare in Indian agriculture is higher than that in China.
How many of the above statements are correct?
Show answer
Answer: A. Statement 1 is correct: India has more arable land (about 156 million ha) than China (about 120 million ha). Statement 2 is wrong: a larger share of China's cropland is irrigated than India's. Statement 3 is wrong: China's yield per hectare is higher than India's for most crops. So only one.
Watch for: China's huge population makes students assume it also has more farmland; it does not.
Why the other options are wrong
- B. Wrong because China has both a higher irrigated share and higher yields.
- C. Wrong because Indian farm yields per hectare are lower than China's.
- D. Wrong because India does have more arable land than China.
Source to check: FAO FAOSTAT land use data (arable and irrigated land, India and China); World Bank World Development Indicators (arable land)
Answer from the official UPSC key. Written and fact-checked by AI against the official key. Spotted a mistake? Report it.