Cambridge IGCSE Geography (0460): Theme 3.2 – Food production – Practice Questions

These are original questions written for Marlbridge, for revision and practice on this content. They are not reproduced past-paper questions, and they do not replicate the exam’s exact structure, question count or mark tariffs – examination boards hold copyright in their own papers. Use these alongside the official past papers from your board or school.

These questions cover section 3.2 Food production of the Cambridge IGCSE Geography (0460) syllabus for examination in 2025 and 2026, Version 2 (published November 2022). The section is assessed mainly in Paper 1 Geographical Themes, which mixes resource-based tasks with place-specific case study writing; Paper 2 Geographical Skills can also set data questions on the themes. Questions 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8 are skills-style items in the spirit of those papers. All places and data in them are fictional.

Revise first with the study guide and revision notes. Track your progress on the Cambridge IGCSE Geography hub and checklist.

Questions

1. Define the following terms.

(a) Subsistence farming [2] (b) Extensive farming [2]

2. A farmer on Kessa Farm, a fictional farm, lists four items: rainfall, calves sold at market, milking the cows, a bank loan. Classify each item as an input, a process or an output. [4]

3. Study the table for the fictional village of Moraza.

Year	Rainfall in growing season (mm)	Maize yield (tonnes per hectare)
2019	820	2.4
2020	640	1.8
2021	410	0.9
2022	760	2.2
2023	530	1.4
2024	880	2.5

(a) Calculate the range of growing-season rainfall. [1] (b) Calculate the mean maize yield for 2019-2024. Give your answer to two decimal places. [2] (c) Calculate the percentage change in maize yield from 2020 to 2021. [2] (d) Describe the relationship between rainfall and maize yield. [2] (e) Suggest two reasons, other than rainfall, why maize yields might vary from year to year. [2]

4. Hollins Farm, a fictional farm, covers 240 hectares in a river valley. Its land use is: grazing 45%, wheat 30%, barley 15%, woodland 6%, farm buildings 4%. Grazing is on the steep upper valley sides; the crops are on the flat valley floor.

(a) Calculate the area of wheat in hectares. Show your working. [2] (b) Classify Hollins Farm as arable, pastoral or mixed. Use the data to support your answer. [2] (c) Suggest three reasons why the steep upper slopes are used for grazing rather than crops. [3]

5. Explain how relief, climate and soil can each influence agricultural land use. [6]

6. For a named farm or agricultural system you have studied, explain how natural and human inputs influence its outputs. [8]

7. Read the extract about Tarvia, a fictional region.

The short rains failed for a second year. Swarms of insects then stripped what crops had grown. Grain is stored in the capital, 400 km away, but the only road was washed out last year and has not been repaired. Fighting between armed groups has closed two markets. Few farmers can afford irrigation pumps.

(a) Identify two natural causes and two economic or political causes of food shortage in Tarvia. [4] (b) Explain how poor transport can turn a local poor harvest into a food shortage. [3]

8. Study the data for Belmora, a fictional country. Belmora needs 2.0 million tonnes of cereals a year. It produced 1.6 million tonnes in 2022 and 1.1 million tonnes in 2023. In 2023 it received 0.5 million tonnes of cereal food aid.

(a) Calculate the 2023 shortfall between need and production. [1] (b) Calculate the percentage of this shortfall covered by food aid. Give your answer to one decimal place. [2] (c) Calculate the percentage fall in cereal production from 2022 to 2023. [2] (d) Explain one disadvantage for Belmora’s farmers of receiving large amounts of food aid. [2]

9. Explain three negative effects of food shortages on people. [6]

10. Evaluate measures used to increase food output in lower-income countries. [10]

11. For a named country or region suffering from food shortages, to what extent were natural causes more important than economic and political causes? [12]

Answers

Questions 6, 10 and 11 are extended responses. In the real exam these are marked with levels of response, not point by point. The [1]s below show indicative creditworthy content.

1. (a) Farming that produces food mainly for the farmer’s own household [1], with little or no surplus to sell [1]. [2] (b) Farming with low inputs of labour or capital per hectare [1], usually over a large area, giving low output per hectare [1]. [2] Examiner insight: For “extensive”, the phrase “per hectare” earns the mark; “a big farm” alone does not.

2. Rainfall: input [1]. Calves sold at market: output [1]. Milking the cows: process [1]. Bank loan: input (economic or human) [1]. [4] Examiner insight: Money such as loans or subsidies is a human input, not a process, even though it is “used” on the farm.

3. (a) 880 - 410 = 470 mm [1]. [1] (b) Total 11.2 ÷ 6 [1] = 1.87 tonnes per hectare [1]. [2] (c) (0.9 - 1.8) ÷ 1.8 × 100 [1] = a fall of 50% [1]. [2] (d) Positive relationship: higher rainfall gives higher yield [1], shown by data such as 410 mm with 0.9 t/ha and 880 mm with 2.5 t/ha [1]. [2] (e) Pests or disease destroyed part of the crop in some years [1]. Farmers could afford fertiliser or better seed in some years but not others [1]. Also credit: the timing of the rain, or floods and storms damaging crops. [2] Examiner insight: “Describe the relationship” needs the direction and paired figures from the table; an unsupported “they are linked” scores little.

4. (a) 30% of 240 = 0.30 × 240 [1] = 72 hectares [1]. [2] (b) Mixed [1], because 45% is grazing (animals) and 45% is wheat and barley together (crops) [1]. [2] (c) Steep slopes are hard or dangerous for machinery [1]. Soils on slopes are thinner and less fertile [1]. Ploughing slopes would increase soil erosion [1]. Also credit: higher land is colder or wetter, so crops ripen less well. [3] Examiner insight: When a question gives a percentage table, use the figures in your classification; a type named with no data earns half at most.

5. Relief: flat land suits machinery and irrigation [1], so it is used for arable farming, while steep land is used for grazing or terraced [1]. Climate: temperature and growing season decide which crops can ripen [1]; low or unreliable rainfall leads to extensive grazing or a need for irrigation [1]. Soil: deep, fertile alluvium supports intensive crops [1]; thin or waterlogged soil is used for pasture [1]. [6] Examiner insight: Each factor needs a “so what” about land use; describing the slope or rainfall alone gains only the first mark in each pair.

6. Indicative content for wet rice in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta, Bangladesh: Named, located system: subsistence, arable, intensive rice farming in Bangladesh [1]. Flat delta land holds water in paddy fields [1]. Floods deposit fertile alluvium [1]. The monsoon gives enough rain for the rain-fed aman crop, harvested in November or December [1]. Large family labour supply allows hand transplanting and weeding, so output per hectare is high [1]. Tubewell irrigation allows a dry-season boro crop [1]. HYV seed and fertiliser have made boro the leading paddy crop, giving national output of about 39.1 million tonnes in 2022-23 [1]. Judgement: natural inputs set what is possible, but human inputs now decide how much is produced [1]. [8] Examiner insight: Top-level case study answers use details only that place has, such as season names and dates; points that fit any farm stay in the lower levels.

7. (a) Natural: failure of the short rains (drought) [1]; insect swarms (pests) [1]. Economic or political: fighting closing markets (war) [1]; road washed out and not repaired (poor transport) or farmers unable to afford pumps (low capital investment) [1]. [4] (b) Food cannot be moved from surplus areas or stores to the area of poor harvest [1]. Scarce food in the local market drives prices up so poor families cannot afford it [1]. Emergency aid arrives late or costs more to deliver [1]. [3] Examiner insight: Quote the extract’s wording (“road washed out”) to show where each cause comes from; general causes not in the source do not score in (a).

8. (a) 2.0 - 1.1 = 0.9 million tonnes [1]. [1] (b) 0.5 ÷ 0.9 × 100 [1] = 55.6% [1]. [2] (c) (1.6 - 1.1) ÷ 1.6 × 100 [1] = 31.25%, a fall of about 31% [1]. [2] (d) Free or cheap aid grain lowers local market prices [1], so farmers earn less and may plant less next season, increasing dependence [1]. [2] Examiner insight: For a percentage change, divide by the starting value (1.6), not the new value; dividing by 1.1 is a common way to lose the answer mark.

9. Malnutrition [1], which weakens immune systems so diseases spread more easily [1]. Migration to camps or towns [1], which breaks up families and creates overcrowded camps [1]. Selling livestock and tools to buy food [1], which reduces the ability to farm next year [1]. Also credit: children leaving school, which lowers future income. [6] Examiner insight: “Explain three” needs each effect plus a consequence; three listed effects with no development score half.

10. Indicative content: Irrigation, such as tubewells, lets crops grow in the dry season [1], as with boro rice in Bangladesh [1]. However, pumps cost money and can lower water tables [1]. High-yielding varieties and fertiliser, as in India’s Green Revolution from the 1960s, raised wheat and rice output in Punjab [1]. Critics say richer farmers gained most and groundwater use rose [1]. Appropriate technology, such as hand pumps and simple storage silos, is cheap and locally repairable [1], and cuts losses after harvest [1]. Pest control and early warning help farmers act before crops are lost [1]. Credit, land reform and education help poorer farmers invest [1]. Judgement: the best measure depends on local capital and water; low-cost measures reach more poor farmers, while HYV raises total output most [1]. [10] Examiner insight: “Evaluate” needs strengths and weaknesses of each measure and a final judgement; a list of measures stays in the lowest level.

11. Indicative content for southern Somalia, 2010-2012: Named place and dates [1]. Natural: drought described as the worst in 60 years [1]; April-June 2011 rainfall under 30% of the 1995-2010 average in many areas [1]; livestock losses of 40-60% in some areas [1]. Explains how this cut food and income for pastoralists and farmers [1]. Economic: staple food prices rose by up to 240% in southern Somalia [1], so poor households could not buy food even where it existed [1]. Political: conflict involving al-Shabaab [1]; aid restricted and some operations suspended after attacks on aid workers [1]. Effect: UN declared famine in Lower Shabelle and Bakool on 20 July 2011 [1]. Comparison: the same drought hit Kenya and Ethiopia, but famine was declared only in Somalia [1]. Judgement: drought triggered the shortage, but conflict and blocked aid explain why it became famine, so natural causes were important but not the main reason [1]. [12] Examiner insight: “To what extent” needs a clear judgement backed by a comparison; balanced description without a verdict cannot reach the top level.

Where marks are usually lost

• Calling mechanised farms “intensive” without thinking about inputs per hectare.
• Putting labour, rainfall or money in the process box.
• Describing a relationship from a table without quoting paired figures.
• Dividing by the new value instead of the original value in percentage change.
• Listing causes from memory when the question says “from the extract”.
• Explaining one effect three times in different words.
• Case study answers with no place, dates or figures.
• “Evaluate” and “to what extent” answers with no final judgement.

Next steps

• Check gaps on our free diagnostics.
• Re-read the study guide for any question you found hard, then retry it.
• Practise related data skills with population and settlement practice and natural environment practice.
• Want a teacher to go through your answers? Book a free trial class.

Official syllabus

These questions follow the Cambridge IGCSE Geography (0460) syllabus for examination in 2025 and 2026, Version 2 (published November 2022), section 3.2 Food production.