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UPSC 2019 GS-III · 10 marks · 150 words

How far is the Integrated Farming System (IFS) helpful in sustaining agricultural production?

What “Examine” demands

investigate the issue closely — how it arose, how it works, what it achieves and where it falls short — looking at both sides.

The characteristic failure: description of what the thing is, with no probing of how well it works.

What a top answer must contain

These are the checkable specifics from the marking standard for this question — the actual case, committee, datum or thinker, not an instruction to “give examples”.

  • Definition: crop-livestock-fishery-horticulture components recycling one another's outputs on the same holding
  • Sustaining mechanisms: on-farm nutrient recycling cutting fertiliser dependence, risk spread across enterprises, year-round income and employment
  • Evidence: ICAR-IIFSR Modipuram trials showing higher net returns and system productivity per hectare than sole cropping
  • Fit to India's holdings: over 86% are small and marginal (Agriculture Census), where IFS suits better than monoculture scale
  • Limits to concede: management skill, initial capital, extension gaps, market access for diverse produce

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