Question

Difficulty: MediumInferential Comprehension and Deduction

Read the passage below carefully and evaluate the statement that follows.

Passage:
In the agrarian belt of Enugu State, cashew farming has historically centered on raw nut exportation, leaving tonnes of cashew apples to rot in orchards every harvest season. Recently, local agricultural cooperatives introduced solar-powered processing units to transform these discarded cashew apples into high-grade organic juice and ethanol. While this innovation significantly reduced post-harvest losses and provided women-led cooperatives with secondary income streams, it also altered local labour dynamics. Seasonal farm hands who were previously hired exclusively for nut harvesting are now engaged throughout the year in processing facilities. However, financial analysts note that the initial capital investment for processing equipment remains prohibitively high for unorganized smallholders, forcing many independent farmers to sell their perishable fruit at nominal prices to well-capitalized cooperatives. Consequently, despite the overall economic growth in the rural sector, income disparity between cooperative members and unaligned smallholders has widened.

Statement:
The economic benefits resulting from cashew apple processing in Enugu State have been distributed unevenly across different categories of local farmers.

Answer: Answer

Answer

The statement is True. Textual evidence confirms that economic benefits accrued mainly to cooperative members while widening the income gap with unaligned smallholders.
The statement is accurate because the passage demonstrates a contrasting outcome between cooperative members who gain additional income streams and independent smallholders who lack capital and sell fruit cheaply, resulting in a wider income gap.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify references to how different farmer groups are affected economically by cashew processing.
Cooperative members gained secondary income streams, whereas unorganized smallholders faced prohibitively high equipment costs.
Required to determine if financial outcomes vary across local farmer groups.
2
Analyze the broader economic impact stated in the conclusion of the passage.
The text explicitly states that income disparity between cooperative members and unaligned smallholders has widened.
Widening income disparity directly demonstrates an unequal distribution of financial gains.
3
Determine the validity of the statement based on synthesized evidence.
The claim that economic benefits are distributed unevenly is logically accurate and supported by the text.
The textual facts directly support the conclusion.

Key Concept

Inferential Comprehension and Deduction
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