Directions – Read the given passage carefully and answer the following questions.

Rapid human population growth poses many challenges, especially food shortages, malnutrition, limited means of irrigation, and shrinking land resources besides deteriorating environmental quality. Sustainable intensification of agricultural production systems is needed today to address the ever-increasing pressure on food and the environment.
Rice, an important food grain, roughly feeds 50 percent of the world population. It has been identified as a major crop consuming vast chunks of available water resources while at the same time paddy fields emit a large amount of the greenhouse gas, methane. Thus, solutions need to be sought to improve the management of rice production systems. Rice-fish farming constitutes a unique agri-landscape across the world, especially in tropical and sub-subtropical Asia.
It is no longer an agri-production practice but an agri-culture pattern. Co-culture of rice and aquatic creatures combining animal production (for example fish, shellfish, crab, shrimp, and ducks) in paddy rice systems has been proposed as a technique to maximize the use of land and water resources to provide both grain and animal protein.
Research has shown that the rice-fish cultivation system is capable of lowering the emission of methane and other GHGs. Aquatic creatures especially bottom feeders (crabs and carps) disturb the soil layers by their movement or sometimes searching for food, and thus they influence the CH4 production processes.
The method of rice-fish is also beneficial to restore soil fertility and avoid soil degradation, which is a major global environmental issue. The rice-fish system requires only a small amount of pesticide and fertilizer as it is a low input system.
The economic aspect of this system indicates that its adoption has led to an increase in the economic efficiency of farmers. This method also ties the aquaculture industry to the agricultural industry in a social way, which is not possible in the case of monoculture. A co-culture program provides a platform for farmers to find new ideas and share their knowledge and experience to develop the farming and aquaculture industries.
With these benefits, farmers are willing to adopt the technology of co-culture as it improves their economic status and is encouraged to increase contacts among various stakeholders that provide or share useful skills and technical knowledge.