Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 1...

Read the passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the best answer to each of the following questions from 17 to 24.

        Site-specific crop management (SSM) acknowledges the natural, inherent variability threaded through every field. Historically, mechanized routines treated land as if it were homogeneous, applying inputs to an “average” that seldom exists. Such blanket approaches generated excesses and deficits alike – herbicides, pesticides, irrigation, and fertilizers were often misallocated. The consequences were predictable: runoff and leaching into surface and groundwater systems, alongside squandered budgets and diminished ecological integrity. SSM, by contrast, treats each patch as a distinct micro-environment whose needs must be measured before they are met.

        Modern SSM marries precise global positioning with location-specific measurements. Agronomists compile in-field observations (soil chemistry, moisture, or pest incidence) and fuse them with remotely sensed signals from aircraft and satellites, thereby quantifying spatial heterogeneity. These layered datasets are rendered as management-zone maps. Operations inside the field then adjust inputs according to those zones, so that application rates shift as equipment crosses invisible boundaries. Instead of crude uniformity, decision-making is tethered to georeferenced evidence, and interventions are paced by where the machine actually stands.

        A newer wave of precision technologies can sense microsite conditions in real time and modify inputs “on the go.” These systems require no a priori maps because sensing and treatment are executed simultaneously, allowing variable-rate nitrogen to track the plant’s immediate status. By embedding sensors and controllers on implements, the machine turns perception into actuation without pausing for offline analysis. These devices displace guesswork with feedback, so prescriptions co-evolve with the crop’s signals rather than being locked to yesterday’s cartography.

        Paradoxically, SSM revives a sensibility once common in small-scale, non-mechanized agriculture, when farmers cultivated with intimate knowledge of every furrow. Mechanization later slashed labor – the dominant cost – and scaled production, even while wasting cheaper inputs. As fertilizer and chemical prices have risen, and as environmental externalities are finally tallied, producers are gravitating toward variable-rate systems to curtail expenses and mitigate harm. The ethic is pragmatic: treat heterogeneity as first principle, not nuisance, and let technology re-enable attentiveness at industrial scale.

(Adapted from https://www.nifa.usda.gov/grants/programs/precision-geospatial-sensor-technologies-programs/precision-agriculture-crop-production)

Question 17. The word excesses in paragraph 1 is OPPOSITE in meaning to ______.

A. surpluses                B. overflows                        C. deficits                        D. redundancies

Question 18. Which of the following is TRUE according to paragraph 2?

A. Management zones are drawn solely from historical yield maps without new measurements.

B. Application rates change as equipment crosses georeferenced boundaries within a field.
C. Remote sensing removes the need for any in-field observations.

D. GPS is unnecessary when interventions are tied to locations.

Question 19. The word These in paragraph 3 refers to ______.

A. management-zone maps compiled from satellite imagery

B. older implements that follow fixed prescription files

C. systems that sense microsite conditions and adjust inputs in real time

D. conventional, uniform-rate fertilizer spreaders

Question 20. Which of the following best paraphrases the underlined sentence in paragraph 4?
A. Curiously, SSM rekindles the attentiveness characteristic of pre-industrial farming, where every plot received individualized care.

B. Intriguingly, SSM echoes traditional practices by enabling field-level precision reminiscent of manual cultivation eras.

C. Ironically, SSM restores the kind of close, hands-on understanding farmers used to have before large machines dominated agriculture.

D. Remarkably, SSM brings back the meticulous observation once essential in labor-intensive, small-farm operations.

Question 21. The word inherent in paragraph 1 can be best replaced by ______?

A. acquired                B. innate                        C. superficial                        D. external

Question 22. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in paragraph 2 as a data source used by SSM?
A. Crowdsourced farmer diaries compiled weekly, aggregated into sentiment scores about crop vigor across neighborhoods

B. In-field variables like soil properties or pest incidence, collected at specific locations within the field for mapping

C. Signals captured by aircraft or satellites to quantify spatial heterogeneity and complement ground measurements

D. Georeferenced observations that are integrated into management-zone maps to guide differentiated input application

Question 23. Which paragraph mentions the return to a traditional, small-scale attentiveness enabled by modern tools?

A. Paragraph 1        B. Paragraph 2                C. Paragraph 3                D. Paragraph 4

Question 24. Which paragraph mentions producers adopting variable-rate technologies in response to rising input prices and environmental accounting?

A. Paragraph 1        B. Paragraph 2                C. Paragraph 3                D. Paragraph 4