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Cambridge ielts 3Cambrige Practice Tests for IELTS 3
Section E
In poor countries, governments aggravate other sorts of damage. Subsidies for pesticides
and artificial fertilisers encourage farmers to use greater quantities than are needed to get
the highest economic crop yield. A study by the International Rice Research Institute Of
pesticide use by farmers in South East Asia found that, with pest-resistant varieties of rice,
even moderate applications of pesticide frequently cost farmers more than they saved.Such
waste puts farmers on a chemical treadmill: bugs and weeds become resis-tant to poisons,
so next year’s poisons must be more lethal. One cost is to human health, Every year some
10,000 people die from pesticide poisoning, almost all of them in the developing countries,
and another 400,000 become seriously ill. As for artificial fertilisers, their use world-wide
increased by 40 per cent per unit of farmed land between the mid 1970s and late 1980s,
mostly in the developing countries. Overuse of fertilisers may cause farmers to stop rotating
crops or leaving their land fallow. That, In turn, may make soil erosion worse.
Section F
A
result of the Uruguay Round of world trade negotiations Is likely to be a reduction of 36
per cent In the average levels of farm subsidies paid by the rich countries in 1986-1990.
Some of the world’s food production will move from Western Europe to regions where
subsidies are lower or non-existent, such as the former communist countries and parts of
the developing world. Some environmentalists worry about this outcome. It wiB
undoubtedly mean more pressure to convert natural habitat into farmland. But it will also
have many desirable environmental effects. The intensity of farming in the rich world should
decline, and the use of chemical inputs will diminish. Crops are more likely to be grown p
the environments to which they are naturally suited. And more farmers in poor coun-tries
wilt have the money and the incentive to manage their land in ways that are sustainable in
the long run. That is important. To feed an increasingly hungry world, farmers need every
incentive to use their soil and water effectively and efficiently.
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