UPSC Prelims 2018 · CSAT (Paper 2) · Q31

Comprehension

Medium · Validity of assumptions

Adapting agriculture to a changing climate is likely to depend heavily on the genetic diversity retained in traditional crop varieties and their wild relatives, which harbour traits such as drought tolerance and pest resistance that modern high-yield varieties have often lost through decades of selective breeding for yield alone. Maintaining diverse seed banks, protecting wild relatives of domesticated crops in their natural habitats, and supporting farmer-led conservation of traditional varieties are all measures that expand the genetic toolkit available for future crop breeding.

With reference to the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1. Modern high-yield crop varieties have generally retained the same trait diversity as traditional varieties.

2. Traditional crop varieties and their wild relatives can harbour traits valuable for climate adaptation.

Which of the above assumptions is/are valid?