Agriculture Paper 2, WASSCE (PC), 2016

Question 4

  1. State three reasons why livestock distribution is concentrated in the savannah region of West Africa. [3 marks]
  2. (If the recommended floor space for White leghorn fowl in a deep litter house is three fowls per square meter, calculate the number of White leghorn fowls that can be kept in a deep litter house measuring 20m x 100m [3 marks]
  3. What is artificial insemination? [2 marks]
  4. State four advantages of artificial insemination. [4 marks]
  5. What is floriculture? [2 marks]
  6. List four ornamental plants used as hedges in West Africa. [4 marks]

Observation

This question was well attempted by the candidates. In 4(a-b), most of the candidates were able to state the reasons why livestock distribution is concentrated in the savannah region of West Africa but they could not calculate the number of White leghorn fowls that could be kept in a deep litter house. Further to this, most of the candidates were able to define artificial insemination, state the advantages of artificial insemination and define floriculture as required in 4(c-e) but they could not list examples of ornamental plants used as hedges in West Africa as required in 4(f).

The expected answers include:

4(b)  Calculation of the number of fowls to be kept in the deep litter house
Recommended space for white leghorn = 3 fowls/m2 Area of deep litter house = 20m x 100m = 2000m2 No of white leghorn fowls to be kept in the deep litter house = 2000 x 3 = 6000 white leghorn fowls

4(f)  Ornamental plants used as hedges in West Africa

  1. - Ixora
  2. - Croton
  3. - Bougainvillea
  4. - Hibiscus/rose of china
  5. - Lantana/mountain sage
  6. - Milk bush/yellow oleander
  7. - Blue plumbago
  8. - Ice/snow plant
  9. - Acalypha
  10. - Pride of Barbados
  11. - Blue Duranta
  12. - Thunbergia