Stapled Crops

[mgmt_gmat]

Agricultural societies cannot exist without staple crops. Several food plants, such as kola
and okra, are known to have been domesticated in western Africa, but they are all
supplemental, not staple, foods. All the recorded staple crops grown in western Africa
were introduced from elsewhere, beginning, at some unknown date, with rice and yams.
Therefore, discovering when rice and yams were introduced into western Africa would
establish the earliest date at which agricultural societies could have arisen there.
Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?
A. People in western Africa did not develop staple crops that they stopped cultivating
once rice and yams were introduced.
B. There are no plants native to western Africa that, if domesticated, could serve as
staple food crops.
C. Rice and yams were grown as staple crops by the earliest agricultural societies
outside of western Africa.
D. Kola and okra are better suited to growing conditions in western Africa than
domesticated rice and yams are.
E. Kola and okra were domesticated in western Africa before rice and yams were
introduced there.

[komal]

A. People in western Africa did not develop staple crops that they stopped cultivating once rice and yams were introduced.
Correct : Rice and yams are used as examples of the staple crops mentioned above. With the help of the unstated premise, a conclusion is drawn that if it can be known when rice and yams were introduced, it could also be known when the agricultural societies in western Africa were established.

B. There are no plants native to western Africa that, if domesticated, could serve as staple food crops.
Incorrect : NO PLANTS is kind of extreme here. Eliminated.

C. Rice and yams were grown as staple crops by the earliest agricultural societies outside of western Africa.
Incorrect : This assumption cannot be drawn from the stimulus above.

D. Kola and okra are better suited to growing conditions in western Africa than domesticated rice and yams are.
Incorrect : Growing conditions is completely out of scope.

E. Kola and okra were domesticated in western Africa before rice and yams were introduced there.
Incorrect : ====== same as C =======

[joseph32]

I would go with option A as the correct option