The new cotton technology, Bollgard II, with herbicide-tolerant traits has developed into a thriving business in India. However, the commercial use of this technology is not legal in India. Notwithstanding that, reports indicate that the herbicide tolerant Bt cotton had been purchased by farmers at an average price of Rs 200 more than the control price of ordinary cotton, and had been planted in 15% of the cotton growing area in the 2017 Kharif season.
Which one of the following statements can be inferred from the given passage?
A. Farmers want to access the new technology if India benefits from it.
B. Farmers want to access the new technology even if it is not legal.
C. Farmers want to access the new technology for experimental purposes.
D. Farmers want to access the new technology by paying high price.
GATE 2019 · General Aptitude · Passage Reading · medium
Answer: B. Farmers want to access the new technology even if it is not legal.
Identify the key evidence: Two facts stand out: (1) commercial use of Bollgard II is NOT legal in India; (2) farmers purchased it at a premium and planted it in 15% of cotton area in 2017. These facts together form the basis of the inference.
Evaluate Option A: Option A claims farmers act only if India benefits. The passage says nothing about national benefit being a farmer motivation. This adds an assumption not in the text.
Evaluate Option B: Option B states farmers want the technology even if it is not legal. The passage directly supports this: technology is not legal + farmers bought and planted it anyway. This is a clean logical inference.
Evaluate Options C and D: Option C (experimental purposes): 15% of cotton area is large-scale adoption, not an experiment. Option D (paying high price): While true, paying a premium is a supporting detail; the key inference is about legality, not price. D is incomplete as the primary inference.