Question

Difficulty: Very hardInferential Comprehension and Deduction

Read the passage below carefully:

In the agrarian belt of Niger State, traditional shea butter extraction relies heavily on intensive thermal roasting of harvested nuts, a fuel-demanding process that historically consumed vast quantities of local firewood. Recently, several rural women's processing cooperatives introduced mechanical solar-powered cold-press machinery. While project evaluators initially anticipated that eliminating firewood gathering would primarily reduce local deforestation, field surveys revealed a broader socio-ecological shift. With less time spent collecting fuel across distant woodlands, cooperative members expanded their cultivation of indigenous intercrops, such as sesame and bambara groundnut, around established shea trees. Consequently, soil organic matter increased, and seasonal household income stabilized during the traditionally lean pre-harvest months. Crucially, the cold-press method preserved temperature-sensitive bioactive triterpenes in the extracted butter, allowing the cooperatives to command premium pricing in international cosmetic supply chains without expanding the physical acreage of their harvesting zones.

Based on the passage, evaluate whether the following statement is True or False:
The introduction of solar-powered cold-press processing enabled the cooperatives to achieve greater financial yield per weight of harvested nuts while maintaining their existing land boundaries.

Answer: Answer

Answer

The statement is True.
The passage establishes that the cold-press technique conserved temperature-sensitive triterpenes, which allowed the processed butter to sell at a premium price (higher return per unit weight) without needing to acquire or harvest additional land area.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the passage for evidence regarding financial yield per unit of harvested nuts.
The text states that the cold-press method preserved bioactive triterpenes, allowing cooperatives to command 'premium pricing in international cosmetic supply chains'.
Commanding a premium price for the product directly implies generating greater revenue/financial yield per unit of raw material processed.
2
Analyze the passage for evidence regarding land area and boundaries.
The text explicitly mentions achieving this outcome 'without expanding the physical acreage of their harvesting zones'.
Not expanding physical acreage confirms that land boundaries remained unchanged.
3
Synthesize the two deductions to evaluate the statement.
Both conditions in the statement (higher financial yield per weight and maintaining existing land boundaries) are logically supported by the passage text.
Combining these two inferential facts validates the statement as completely true.

Key Concept

Synthesizing implicit relationships between economic outcomes and land-use constraints from textual evidence.
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