Slash-and-Burn Agriculture Involves Burning Several Acres of Forest GMAT Critical Reasoning

Question: Slash-and-burn agriculture involves burning several acres of forest, leaving vegetable ash that provides ample fertilizer for three or four years of bountiful crops. On the cleared land nutrients leach out of the soil. However, and the land becomes too poor to support agriculture. New land is then cleared by burning, and the process starts again. Since most farming in the tropics uses this method. Forests in this region will eventually be perma-nently eradicated.

The argument depends on the assumption that

(A) forests in the tropics do not regenerate well enough to restore themselves once they have been cleared by the slash-and-burn method
(B) some other methods of agriculture are not as destructive to the environment in tropical regions as the slash-and-burn method is
(C) forests in the tropics are naturally deficient in nutrients that are needed to support the growth of paints that are not native to those regions
(D) slash-and-burn agriculture is particularly suitable for farming in tropical areas
(E) slash-and burn agriculture produces a more bountiful crop than do other agriculture methods for the first year

Correct Answer: A
Explanation:

In the critical reasoning part of the GMAT, you will be tested on your ability to analyze and think critically. To answer clearly, a person needs to have a lot of brain power.

To make a choice, each option needs to be carefully examined. Only one of the five choices given will be right. To make the best choice, the candidate must think about many things.

From the given passage,
-Nutrients leave the soil, making it impossible for the area to support agriculture.
-New land is then removed, and the cycle is repeated.

To arrive at the conclusion that the forests will be permanently destroyed, we need to make an assumption.

Let’s check the given choices -

A: Correct

It is the correct choice. According to the author, this procedure will completely remove the forest. It is obvious that the author assumes the forest won't regenerate. This is logical. Why can't the forests simply re-grow using the fertilizer that has been provided by the removed forests? We assume they are unable to accomplish this, which will prevent the regrowth of cleared land.

B: Incorrect

It is the wrong choice. In tropical areas, certain other agricultural practices are less harmful to the environment than the slash-and-burn technique. Other approaches are unimportant in this case. Even if it's true, it doesn't matter.

C: Incorrect

It is an incorrect choice. Forests in the tropics are inherently low in the nutrients required to support the growth of non-native plants. Since the logic suggests otherwise, the author does not assume this. Again, it's not significant even if it's true.

D: Incorrect

It is an incorrect answer. slash-and-burn Tropical climates are especially suited to agriculture. Because appropriateness is not indicated, we cannot infer it. Again, that's possible, but it doesn't matter to us.

E: Incorrect

It is an incorrect answer. For the first year, slash-and-burn agriculture yields a more abundant crop than other farming techniques. This is excluded since we know nothing about alternative approaches. Comparing slash-and-burn agriculture to other practices is not something we are interested in. This is unimportant.

“Slash-and-burn agriculture involves burning several acres of forest” – is a  GMATCritical question. To answer the question, a candidate can either find a piece of evidence that would weaken the argument or have logical flaws in the argument. GMAT critical reasoning tests the logical and analytical skills of the candidates. This topic requires candidates to find the argument's strengths and weaknesses or the logical flaw in the argument. The GMAT CR section contains 10 -13 GMAT critical reasoning questions out of 36 GMAT verbal questions.

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