Sample answers - CXC English A exam: Past paper type summary writing question 20

Sample answers - CXC English A exam: Past paper type summary writing question 20

Sample answer 1

Various factors contribute to the world’s food crisis. These include pests and diseases, flood and drought, poor farming practices, the decreasing amount of cultivable cropland, and, most importantly, the increasingly poor quality of soil. Successful attempts have been made to improve seed quality but this has limited effect where the soil is poor. Producing better types of plants increased food for a short while but failed because of soil. The world food crisis is usually seen as a result of bad marketing practices, but other things like water, diseases and soil must not be taken for granted, as is usually the case. Attention has been given to improving agricultural practices, but very little is done to improve the soil.

(120 words)

Sample answer 2

Seeds are improving but food production is falling because soils are deteriorating and people are going hungry. According to scientists better varieties resulted in the ‘green evolution’. Many years ago, improved plant varieties resulted in the ‘green evolution’. This led to the belief that the crisis was over. The hope was short-lived as fertile soil, a critical factor, was lacking. The present food crisis, intensified by natural disasters and diseases, could have been averted with the promotion of fertilizers in places like Africa. Although they practice modern agricultural techniques, governments and charities are not interested in funding projects to improve the quality of soil.

(105 words)

Sample answer 3

Although the quality of seeds is improving, soil is getting worse and there is currently a food crisis. Soil improvement is critical to solving this crisis.

While it is true that the crisis is viewed in economic terms, a combination of environmental conditions also contributes to creating the desperate food situation. The chief problem is that fertile soil is needed to capitalize on the high quality seeds and plants developed through modern scientific methods. Research in soil improvement has been neglected because it does not capture the interest of governments and charities. They fail to realize that even the best quality seeds cannot flourish without good soil. Soil health is needed to avert a worse food crisis.

(117 words)

While these answers are different, they all have,

1) All the required information

2) In the correct format (continuous prose)

3) In the required word limit (No more than 120 words)

Please follow the format of these examples to get high marks on your CXC English A summary writing question.