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NCERT Solutions for Class 9th Social Science Chapter 8 What to Produce and for Whom? — In-text Questions

Book page 188 Updated on2026-09-08

Q1.
For instance, should farmers produce water-intensive crops such as sugarcane and paddy, or drought-resistant crops such as millets and pulses?
Answer

The chapter does not settle it for one crop, and it is right not to — it sets the choice up as a trade-off and shows what each side costs.

 Sugarcane and paddy (water-intensive)Millets and pulses (drought-resistant)
What is gainedHigh profits; supports industries such as sugarSaves water, improves soil health, promotes sustainable agriculture
What is given upThe forgone gains from saved water and improved soil healthThe higher profit and the industrial demand that sugarcane would have supported
Time horizonShort-term economic gainLong-term sustainability

So the answer depends on the conditions the earlier page listed — soil, rainfall and market demand. Where groundwater is deep and rainfall low, growing a water-intensive crop uses up a resource that the whole area shares, and the opportunity cost is borne not only by that farmer but by every farmer around. Where water is plentiful and a mill is nearby, sugarcane can be the sensible choice.

The point the chapter is really making: “This type of decision reflects the trade-off between short-term economic gains and long-term sustainability by accounting for the opportunity costs of various alternatives.” The mistake is not choosing sugarcane; the mistake is choosing it while counting only the profit and not counting the water and the soil. Once the forgone water and soil health are entered on the cost side, the comparison is honest — and the chapter adds that “similar trade-offs have to be made by companies, governments, and consumers.”

A balanced conclusion: most farming regions are best served by a mix rather than by all of one crop — some area under the cash crop for income, some under pulses and millets to protect the soil and the water table. This is the same reasoning as the PPC: the useful choices usually lie between the two extreme points, not at them.

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