Read the passage below carefully and answer the question that follows:
In the rural agrarian community of Nkanu in Enugu State, traditional cassava processing has long been a labor-intensive enterprise dominated by women's cooperatives. Recently, the introduction of solar-powered hydraulic presses and automated graters significantly reduced processing time and physical strain. However, rather than leading to an influx of younger community members into the trade as local development planners had anticipated, the primary beneficiaries have been established commercial middlemen. These intermediaries, possessing capital that the local cooperatives lacked, rapidly purchased the mechanized equipment and rented it back to the processors at exorbitant rates. Consequently, while the total volume of processed garri leaving the community increased, the net household earnings of the female processors dropped. Furthermore, young adults continued to migrate to urban centers, citing the economic squeeze created by rentier dominance over the new machinery.
Based on the passage, what can be inferred about the overall outcome of introducing processing technology in Nkanu?
- The technological intervention inadvertently deepened economic disadvantage for local processors due to capital disparities.Answer
- BThe introduction of solar machinery led to an immediate reduction in the total market demand for cassava products.
- CLocal female cooperatives successfully acquired ownership of the mechanized equipment through municipal agricultural grants.
- DSolar-powered hydraulic presses failed to achieve any operational or physical efficiency gains in cassava grating.