Agricultural policies UE Past Papers Questions.

The table below presents measures of distortion and comparative economic advantage in the production of maize and round potatoes in Mozambique using local and improved production technologies. Two provinces were chosen to reflect different biophysical conditions. Maputo Province, a coastal area with low rainfall and generally poor soils and Tete which has medium altitude, above average rainfall and fertile soils.

1. Assuming absence of market failure, briefly discuss the EPC results
2. What crop systems would you recommend for each province? Justify your answer.

EPC and CBR for selected commodity systems in Mozambique

CBR: Cost Benefit Ratio, EPC: Effective Protection Coefficient

Answer / Solution

UNSOLVED

The supply and demand equations presented below are for maize grain. If the government decides to subsidize producer price by 2 monetary units (MU), What will be the net effect on consumer surplus, producer surplus, tax payers and total welfare (dead weight loss)?. NB: make sure you present a well labelled graph to support your answers.

(Supply equation)

(Demand equation)

Answer / Solution

UNSOLVED

The following is a simplex tableau for a linear programming problem

			60	50	45	50	0	0	0	0
	Basic variable	Quantity	x1	x2	x3	x4	s1	s2	s3	s4
0	s1	20	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	0
50	x4	15	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0
60	x1	12	1	1/2	0	1	0	0	1/10	0
0	s4	45	0	0	8	6	0	-6	0	1
		1,470	60	30	0	50	0	50	6	0
	-		0	20	45	0	0	-	-6	0
								-50

1. Is this a maximization or a minimization problem? Give reason(s) for your answer.
2. What are the values of the decision variables in this simplex tableau
3. What are the values of the slack variables in this tableau?
4. What does the – value of “20” in the “x2” column mean?
5. Is this solution optimal? Why? If the solution is not optimal, determine the optimal solution.

Answer / Solution

UNSOLVED

1. With the aid of illustrated diagram, explain the concept of Costs trade-offs associated with improved services.
2. A vending machine at JUlius Nyerere International Airport dispenses hot coffee, hot chocolate, or hot tea, in a constant service time of 20 seconds. Customers arrive at the vending machine at a mean rate of 60 per hour (Poison distributed).

1. Mention the assumption that the management Scientists must make before analyzing this queuing problem
2. Determine the average length of the waiting line and the average time a customer must wait.

Answer / Solution

UNSOLVED

Which of the following ratios includes a component that is not part of the current sections of a balnce sheet

1. Working capital ratio
2. Quick ratio
3. Invemtory turnover
4. None of the above is a good answer because all of the listed ratios incorporate only items from the current section

Answer / Solution

UNSOLVED