Question

Difficulty: HardInferential Comprehension and Deduction

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

In the drought-prone Yatenga province of northern Burkina Faso, agricultural experts initially promoted modern tractor-driven deep tillage to expand crop yields. However, this mechanical intervention shattered the fragile soil crust, accelerating erosion during sudden torrential downpours and rapidly depleting soil moisture. In response, local farmers quietly reverted to an adapted traditional technique known as zaï—digging small pits filled with organic compost before the onset of rains. These micro-basins attract termites, whose subterranean channels naturally aerate the hardpan and enhance water infiltration. When environmental non-governmental organisations evaluated regional crop survival rates during the severe dry spell of 2023, fields using the zaï method maintained sixty percent higher sorghum yields than fields managed with motorized machinery. Surprisingly, despite these documented ecological benefits and lower operational costs, financial institutions in the capital continue to restrict agricultural credit primarily to farmers purchasing industrial machinery and chemical inputs.

Statement: The lending policies of capital-based financial institutions in Burkina Faso are primarily driven by empirical evidence of crop resilience and ecological sustainability.

Answer: Answer

Answer

False
Evaluating the statement as False is correct because the final sentence of the passage reveals an unstated systemic contradiction: financial institutions restrict loan allocation to conventional industrial inputs despite documented empirical proof that traditional zaï techniques deliver far superior crop resilience and yield stability during droughts.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the core assertion of the statement.
The statement claims that financial institutions base their agricultural lending policies on empirical evidence of crop resilience and ecological sustainability.
Establishing the claim is necessary to verify whether textual evidence supports or contradicts it.
2
Examine textual evidence regarding the performance of farming methods.
The text states that zaï fields achieved 60% higher yields during dry spells and preserved soil structure compared to motorized machinery.
This establishes what the empirical evidence actually demonstrates.
3
Synthesize the contrast between empirical evidence and bank behavior.
Despite documented ecological and crop resilience benefits of zaï, banks restrict credit primarily to industrial machinery and chemical inputs.
This contradiction demonstrates that lending policies are disconnected from empirical ecological performance, rendering the statement false.

Key Concept

Inferential Comprehension and Deductive Logic
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