Read the following passage carefully and answer the question that follows:
To mitigate agricultural soil degradation and encourage sustainable land use, several state governments have launched Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes that provide direct financial compensation to smallholder farmers who plant native trees within their crop landscapes. Proponents argue that compensating farmers for the ecological benefits and carbon sequestered by these trees will offset initial yield losses incurred during the transition away from intensive monoculture farming, thereby ensuring sustained long-term adoption. However, critics point out that carbon measurement on fragmented agricultural holdings remains technically complex and expensive to monitor. Consequently, unless state agencies establish long-term institutional mechanisms for guaranteed carbon credit off-take at predictable floor prices, smallholder farmers will revert to high-input monoculture once the initial financial incentives expire after five years.
Which of the following is a crucial underlying assumption required for the author's conclusion regarding the reversion to monoculture farming to hold true?
- AWithout guaranteed carbon credit purchase prices, smallholder farmers will inevitably revert to high-input monoculture once the initial state subsidy expires.
- Smallholder farmers' long-term decision to maintain agroforestry practices is primarily governed by financial return rather than non-monetary motivations.Cevap
- CAgroforestry carbon sequestration is scientifically proven to reduce global atmospheric carbon more effectively than industrial carbon capture technologies.
- DSmallholder farmers can avoid initial crop yield losses during the transition period by utilizing native tree varieties.