NEB Class 12 Science Industrial Crop Production Question Paper 2082 (Set D) Nepal

Cash crops are agricultural crops which are grown for sale to return a profit rather than for subsistence consumption.

Propping refers to tying sugarcane plants together using lower bottom leaves to prevent them from lodging due to heavy wind.

Nicotiana tabacum generally contains around 1-3% nicotine content depending on varieties and cultivation practices.

Commercial cotton production initiative started primarily in the western Terai district of Banke, Nepal.

The shorter or broken wastes of jute fibres produced during the processing mechanism are called tow.

Jute requires warm and humid climate conditions and cannot withstand frost.

Bacteria and fungi produce relevant extracellular enzymatic elements to break down pectins and hemicelluloses during plant fiber extraction.

Arabica coffee can naturally develop into multiple stems system if trained/pruned or natively grown under certain pruning methods, though single-stem systems are also common. Historically, standard curriculum guidelines categorize it with multiple stems or single stem management frameworks.

Cardamom is traditionally referred to as the 'Queen of Spices' (while black pepper is known as the 'King of Spices').

Industrial crops are those cultivated to produce raw industrial materials rather than primarily for direct food consumption (e.g., jute, sugarcane, cotton, tobacco, coffee).

Importance and Scope in Nepal:

• Economic Growth: They provide high value-added income opportunities for domestic farmers relative to traditional subsistence food grains.
• Raw Material for Agro-industries: Essential supply chains for local textile factories, sugar mills, and processing plants rely natively on these domestic yields.
• Employment Generation: Offers seasonal and full-time employment across farming, harvesting, and localized packaging units.
• Export Potential: High-value niche commodities like Himalayan orthodox coffee and large cardamom contribute strongly to foreign currency earnings.

Significance: Transplanting enables uniform crop establishment, optimal space usage, and proper management of fragile seedling stages within protected nurseries prior to setting up in fields.

Method of Transplanting:

1. Seedlings reach optimum transplanting stage at roughly 6–8 weeks (when they achieve a height of 10–15 cm).
2. Harden off seedlings by reducing water a few days before pulling.
3. Carefully uproot seedlings during afternoon hours or cloudy days to prevent moisture shock.
4. Plant them at recommended distances (e.g., $60\,\text{cm} \times 60\,\text{cm}$ or $90\,\text{cm} \times 60\,\text{cm}$ depending on variety) inside prepared ridges.
5. Give light irrigation immediately after setting them down in soil.

The extraction of jute fiber involves the following core sequential processing steps:

1. Harvesting: Stalks are harvested at the small pod stage to maintain high-quality textile strands.
2. Defoliation: Stalks are tied into bundles and left in fields for 2–3 days for natural leaf shedding.
3. Retting: Bundles are submerged into clean, stagnant, or slow-moving water bodies for 15–20 days. Microbial enzymes digest non-fibrous pectins and gums attaching the outer bark layer to the central woody stick.
4. Stripping: The loosened fiber strands are stripped or peeled manually by hand from individual stems.
5. Washing and Drying: Extracted fibers are washed thoroughly in clean water to eliminate residual organic waste and hung on bamboo rails under direct sunlight for drying.

Cultivation of large cardamom (Amomum subulatum) involves:

• Climatic requirement: Thrives best under shaded humid subtropical environments at elevations from 600 to 2000 meters.
• Propagation: Cultivated primarily via rhizome divisions or nursery-grown seedlings.
• Field Preparation: Large pits are cleared inside mixed agroforestry settings or forest covers (often alongside Alnus trees for natural shade).
• Planting: Rhizomes/seedlings are planted at the start of the monsoon season with spacing guidelines usually around $1.5\,\text{m} \times 1.5\,\text{m}$.
• Intercultural Operations: Periodic weeding, manual mulching, and sustainable moisture irrigation during dry winters.
• Harvesting: Crop capsules are harvested close to full maturity when the seeds turn dark brown.

Industrial crops are plant species grown to serve as primary agricultural commodities for conversion into commercial industrial goods.

Role in National Economy:

• Foreign Trade: High export values reduce overall trade deficits via critical commodities (e.g., export of cardamom, tea, coffee).
• Industrial Raw Supply: Supports major factories like sugar refineries and textiles, minimizing dependency on costly foreign imports.
• Rural Upliftment: Provides alternative cash income streams over traditional subsistence food crops, helping reduce rural poverty.
• Revenue Generation: Yields government duties, customs, and commercial taxes via value chains.

Turmeric (Curcuma longa) cultivation practices in Nepal involve standard tropical/subtropical agro-management steps:

• Climate & Soil: Prefers warm, humid environments up to 1500m altitude. Needs well-drained, fertile, sandy loam soils rich in organic humus; standing water is harmful.
• Varieties: Kapurkot Halami-1 is highly favored and recommended inside Nepal.
• Land Preparation: Thorough plowing 2–3 times, mixing 20–25 tons/ha of Farmyard Manure (FYM). Prepare raised beds or ridges to avoid structural waterlogging.
• Propagation & Sowing: Propagated by healthy mother or finger rhizomes. Sowing is typically carried out in April-May before monsoon sets in. Spacing is kept around $30\text{--}45\,\text{cm} \times 20\ ext{--}25\,\text{cm}$ at a depth of 5–10 cm.
• Mulching: Highly critical step immediately post-planting using dry leaves or straw to conserve soil moisture, regulate thermal levels, and suppress weeds.
• Manures & Fertilizers: N:P:K application baseline of around 90:60:60 kg/ha is generally applied.
• Harvesting: Ready inside 7–9 months when leaves turn distinctly yellow and dry out completely. Rhizomes are carefully dug out without causing physical cuts.

Cultivation Practices:

• Climate & Elevation: Arabica thrives ideally between 800m and 1600m altitudes under shady micro-environments across mid-hill zones of Nepal.
• Propagation: Propagated via healthy, disease-free nursery seeds.
• Pit Preparation & Spacing: Pits ($50\,\text{cm}^3$) are excavated under tree canopies with typical crop spacing of $2\,\text{m} \times 2\,\text{m}$.
• Intercultural operations: Mandatory shade tree management, structural training/pruning, and biological mulching to preserve nutrients.
• Harvesting: Hand-picking only fully ripe, bright-red coffee cherries.

Processing Techniques:

• Wet Processing Method (Pulping):
  1. Ripe cherries are sorted and passed through a pulping machine within 24 hours to separate the skin from the parchment bean.
  2. Fermentation: Pulped beans are fermented in tanks for 12–24 hours to break down the slippery mucilage layer.
  3. Washing & Drying: Beans are washed with fresh water and uniformly sun-dried on raised wire mesh tables until moisture drops to roughly 11–12%.
• Dry Processing Method: Cherries are directly spread under the sun for 2–3 weeks and systematically raked until dry, followed by hulling to remove the entire outer dried husk layer.