praj-17/QA-MCQ-Open-ended huggingface dataset:
Title: Cotton
Context: During the American Civil War, American cotton exports slumped due to a Union blockade on Southern ports, and also because of a strategic decision by the Confederate government to cut exports, hoping to force Britain to recognize the Confederacy or enter the war. This prompted the main purchasers of cotton, Britain and France, to turn to Egyptian cotton. British and French traders invested heavily in cotton plantations. The Egyptian government of Viceroy Isma'il took out substantial loans from European bankers and stock exchanges. After the American Civil War ended in 1865, British and French traders abandoned Egyptian cotton and returned to cheap American exports,[citation needed] sending Egypt into a deficit spiral that led to the country declaring bankruptcy in 1876, a key factor behind Egypt's occupation by the British Empire in 1882.

question: What action of the Union damaged the southern cotton exports? 

answer: Union blockade

question: When did the American cotton industry fail? 

answer: American Civil War

question: To what county's cotton did European buyers turn due to the American Civil War? 

answer: Egyptian

question: What characteristic of American cotton attracted buyers after the end of the Civil war? 

answer: cheap

question: What did the abandonment of Egyptian cotton mean to the Egyptian economy? 

answer: bankruptcy
Title: Cotton
Context: Cotton remained a key crop in the Southern economy after emancipation and the end of the Civil War in 1865. Across the South, sharecropping evolved, in which landless black and white farmers worked land owned by others in return for a share of the profits. Some farmers rented the land and bore the production costs themselves. Until mechanical cotton pickers were developed, cotton farmers needed additional labor to hand-pick cotton. Picking cotton was a source of income for families across the South. Rural and small town school systems had split vacations so children could work in the fields during "cotton-picking."

question: What was the procedure called which involved workers to work for a share of the profits?  

answer: sharecropping

question: What difficulty in harvesting cotton required a large labor force? 

answer: hand-pick

question: Besides adults what segment of the southern US population was involved in the harvesting of cotton? 

answer: children

question: What function of southern schools was created for children to pick cotton? 

answer: split vacations

question: What part of the southern population worked as sharecroppers? 

answer: landless
Title: Cotton
Context: Successful cultivation of cotton requires a long frost-free period, plenty of sunshine, and a moderate rainfall, usually from 600 to 1,200 mm (24 to 47 in). Soils usually need to be fairly heavy, although the level of nutrients does not need to be exceptional. In general, these conditions are met within the seasonally dry tropics and subtropics in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, but a large proportion of the cotton grown today is cultivated in areas with less rainfall that obtain the water from irrigation. Production of the crop for a given year usually starts soon after harvesting the preceding autumn. Cotton is naturally a perennial but is grown as an annual to help control pests. Planting time in spring in the Northern hemisphere varies from the beginning of February to the beginning of June. The area of the United States known as the South Plains is the largest contiguous cotton-growing region in the world. While dryland (non-irrigated) cotton is successfully grown in this region, consistent yields are only produced with heavy reliance on irrigation water drawn from the Ogallala Aquifer. Since cotton is somewhat salt and drought tolerant, this makes it an attractive crop for arid and semiarid regions. As water resources get tighter around the world, economies that rely on it face difficulties and conflict, as well as potential environmental problems. For example, improper cropping and irrigation practices have led to desertification in areas of Uzbekistan, where cotton is a major export. In the days of the Soviet Union, the Aral Sea was tapped for agricultural irrigation, largely of cotton, and now salination is widespread.

question: What is the optimum amount of rainfall for cotton growth? 

answer: 600 to 1,200 mm

question: In what soil type does cotton prefer to grow ? 

answer: heavy

question: Why is cotton grown as an annual crop? 

answer: control pests

question: Where in the US is considered the best place to grow cotton on Earth? 

answer: South Plains

question: What type of tolerances make cotton an ideal crop for semiarid areas? 

answer: salt and drought
Title: Cotton
Context: Genetically modified (GM) cotton was developed to reduce the heavy reliance on pesticides. The bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) naturally produces a chemical harmful only to a small fraction of insects, most notably the larvae of moths and butterflies, beetles, and flies, and harmless to other forms of life. The gene coding for Bt toxin has been inserted into cotton, causing cotton, called Bt cotton, to produce this natural insecticide in its tissues. In many regions, the main pests in commercial cotton are lepidopteran larvae, which are killed by the Bt protein in the transgenic cotton they eat. This eliminates the need to use large amounts of broad-spectrum insecticides to kill lepidopteran pests (some of which have developed pyrethroid resistance). This spares natural insect predators in the farm ecology and further contributes to noninsecticide pest management.

question: To stop reliance on what was GM cotton developed? 

answer: pesticides

question: What form of cotton is GM? 

answer: Genetically modified

question: What bacterium is used to produced GM cotton? 

answer: Bacillus thuringiensis

question: What farming pest management technique does the use of GM grown plants promote? 

answer: noninsecticide

question: What part of the life cycle of moths does Bt toxin effect? 

answer: larvae
Title: Cotton
Context: But Bt cotton is ineffective against many cotton pests, however, such as plant bugs, stink bugs, and aphids; depending on circumstances it may still be desirable to use insecticides against these. A 2006 study done by Cornell researchers, the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy and the Chinese Academy of Science on Bt cotton farming in China found that after seven years these secondary pests that were normally controlled by pesticide had increased, necessitating the use of pesticides at similar levels to non-Bt cotton and causing less profit for farmers because of the extra expense of GM seeds. However, a 2009 study by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Stanford University and Rutgers University refuted this. They concluded that the GM cotton effectively controlled bollworm. The secondary pests were mostly miridae (plant bugs) whose increase was related to local temperature and rainfall and only continued to increase in half the villages studied. Moreover, the increase in insecticide use for the control of these secondary insects was far smaller than the reduction in total insecticide use due to Bt cotton adoption. A 2012 Chinese study concluded that Bt cotton halved the use of pesticides and doubled the level of ladybirds, lacewings and spiders. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) said that, worldwide, GM cotton was planted on an area of 25 million hectares in 2011. This was 69% of the worldwide total area planted in cotton.

question: In what year did a research study find that the use of Bt toxin plants failed to be effective after 7 years? 

answer: 2006

question: On what did a 2009 study conclude that increased insects were dependent? 

answer: temperature and rainfall

question: What did a 2012 study suggest  was halved by the use of GM plants? 

answer: pesticides

question: What did the 2012 study say was doubled by the use of GM cotton? 

answer: ladybirds, lacewings and spiders

question: How much of the Earth's cotton crops are planted in GM cotton? 

answer: 69%
Title: Cotton
Context: GM cotton acreage in India grew at a rapid rate, increasing from 50,000 hectares in 2002 to 10.6 million hectares in 2011. The total cotton area in India was 12.1 million hectares in 2011, so GM cotton was grown on 88% of the cotton area. This made India the country with the largest area of GM cotton in the world. A long-term study on the economic impacts of Bt cotton in India, published in the Journal PNAS in 2012, showed that Bt cotton has increased yields, profits, and living standards of smallholder farmers. The U.S. GM cotton crop was 4.0 million hectares in 2011 the second largest area in the world, the Chinese GM cotton crop was third largest by area with 3.9 million hectares and Pakistan had the fourth largest GM cotton crop area of 2.6 million hectares in 2011. The initial introduction of GM cotton proved to be a success in Australia – the yields were equivalent to the non-transgenic varieties and the crop used much less pesticide to produce (85% reduction). The subsequent introduction of a second variety of GM cotton led to increases in GM cotton production until 95% of the Australian cotton crop was GM in 2009 making Australia the country with the fifth largest GM cotton crop in the world. Other GM cotton growing countries in 2011 were Argentina, Myanmar, Burkina Faso, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa and Costa Rica.

question: How much area was planted in India in GM cotton in 2011? 

answer: 10.6 million hectares

question: What was the percentage of GM cotton planted in India in 2011? 

answer: 88%

question: Waht country has the largest area of GM cotton on Earth? 

answer: India

question: At what rank does US GM cotton stand in the world? 

answer: second largest

question: What percentage of Australia's cotton crop was GM in 2009? 

answer: 95%
Title: Cotton
Context: Organic cotton is generally understood as cotton from plants not genetically modified and that is certified to be grown without the use of any synthetic agricultural chemicals, such as fertilizers or pesticides. Its production also promotes and enhances biodiversity and biological cycles. In the United States, organic cotton plantations are required to enforce the National Organic Program (NOP). This institution determines the allowed practices for pest control, growing, fertilizing, and handling of organic crops. As of 2007, 265,517 bales of organic cotton were produced in 24 countries, and worldwide production was growing at a rate of more than 50% per year.

question: What are organic plants understood to be? 

answer: not genetically modified

question: Without what are organic plants meant to be grown ?  

answer: synthetic agricultural chemicals

question: What is meant by synthetic chemicals? 

answer: fertilizers or pesticides

question: What group in the US determines the allowed practices in organic agriculture? 

answer: National Organic Program

question: How much organic cotton was produced worldwide in 2007? 

answer: 265,517 bales
Title: Cotton
Context: Historically, in North America, one of the most economically destructive pests in cotton production has been the boll weevil. Due to the US Department of Agriculture's highly successful Boll Weevil Eradication Program (BWEP), this pest has been eliminated from cotton in most of the United States. This program, along with the introduction of genetically engineered Bt cotton (which contains a bacterial gene that codes for a plant-produced protein that is toxic to a number of pests such as cotton bollworm and pink bollworm), has allowed a reduction in the use of synthetic insecticides.

question: What insect is the most destructive pest in cotton growing in the US? 

answer: boll weevil

question: What program has effectively eliminated the boll weevil in the US? 

answer: Boll Weevil Eradication Program

question: What is the organization that instigated the Boll Weevil Eradication Program? 

answer: US Department of Agriculture

question: What form of cotton contains a genetically modified gene? 

answer: Bt cotton

question: On what does the use of Bt cotton reduce reliance? 

answer: synthetic insecticides.
Title: Cotton
Context: Most cotton in the United States, Europe and Australia is harvested mechanically, either by a cotton picker, a machine that removes the cotton from the boll without damaging the cotton plant, or by a cotton stripper, which strips the entire boll off the plant. Cotton strippers are used in regions where it is too windy to grow picker varieties of cotton, and usually after application of a chemical defoliant or the natural defoliation that occurs after a freeze. Cotton is a perennial crop in the tropics, and without defoliation or freezing, the plant will continue to grow.

question: How is most cotton harvested? 

answer: mechanically

question: What is the cotton harvesting machine that removes the boll with damaging the plant? 

answer: cotton picker

question: What machine strips off the entire head of the cotton plant? 

answer: cotton stripper

question: What weather conditions mandate the planting of stripper types of cotton? 

answer: windy

question: What type of plant is cotton? 

answer: perennial
Title: Cotton
Context: The era of manufactured fibers began with the development of rayon in France in the 1890s. Rayon is derived from a natural cellulose and cannot be considered synthetic, but requires extensive processing in a manufacturing process, and led the less expensive replacement of more naturally derived materials. A succession of new synthetic fibers were introduced by the chemicals industry in the following decades. Acetate in fiber form was developed in 1924. Nylon, the first fiber synthesized entirely from petrochemicals, was introduced as a sewing thread by DuPont in 1936, followed by DuPont's acrylic in 1944. Some garments were created from fabrics based on these fibers, such as women's hosiery from nylon, but it was not until the introduction of polyester into the fiber marketplace in the early 1950s that the market for cotton came under threat. The rapid uptake of polyester garments in the 1960s caused economic hardship in cotton-exporting economies, especially in Central American countries, such as Nicaragua, where cotton production had boomed tenfold between 1950 and 1965 with the advent of cheap chemical pesticides. Cotton production recovered in the 1970s, but crashed to pre-1960 levels in the early 1990s.

question: What was the first manufactured fiber? 

answer: rayon

question: When was rayon first made in France? 

answer: 1890s

question: What type of industry produced a growing chain of synthetic fibers? 

answer: chemicals industry

question: What company produced nylon and acrylic in the 1930s and 1940s? 

answer: DuPont

question: What was manufactured completely from petrochemicals? 

answer: Nylon
Title: Cotton
Context: Beginning as a self-help program in the mid-1960s, the Cotton Research and Promotion Program (CRPP) was organized by U.S. cotton producers in response to cotton's steady decline in market share. At that time, producers voted to set up a per-bale assessment system to fund the program, with built-in safeguards to protect their investments. With the passage of the Cotton Research and Promotion Act of 1966, the program joined forces and began battling synthetic competitors and re-establishing markets for cotton. Today, the success of this program has made cotton the best-selling fiber in the U.S. and one of the best-selling fibers in the world.[citation needed]

question: What prompted a help program produced by cotton producers in the 1960s? 

answer: decline in market share

question: What law was passed in 1966 to aid cotton producers? 

answer: Cotton Research and Promotion Act

question: What type of competitors does the 1966 act help combat? 

answer: synthetic competitors

question: Where has the Cotton Research and Promotion Act made cotton the best selling fiber? 

answer: U.S.

question: What did producers of cotton have to re-establish after the market declined? 

answer: markets for cotton
Title: Cotton
Context: Cotton is used to make a number of textile products. These include terrycloth for highly absorbent bath towels and robes; denim for blue jeans; cambric, popularly used in the manufacture of blue work shirts (from which we get the term "blue-collar"); and corduroy, seersucker, and cotton twill. Socks, underwear, and most T-shirts are made from cotton. Bed sheets often are made from cotton. Cotton also is used to make yarn used in crochet and knitting. Fabric also can be made from recycled or recovered cotton that otherwise would be thrown away during the spinning, weaving, or cutting process. While many fabrics are made completely of cotton, some materials blend cotton with other fibers, including rayon and synthetic fibers such as polyester. It can either be used in knitted or woven fabrics, as it can be blended with elastine to make a stretchier thread for knitted fabrics, and apparel such as stretch jeans.

question: For what is cotton used to make? 

answer: textile products

question: Besides new cotton fibers, what type of fibers can be used to make cotton products? 

answer: recycled or recovered cotton

question: With what is cotton often blended to make a new style of fabric? 

answer: synthetic fibers

question: What kinds of fabrics can be made from blended fibers? 

answer: knitted or woven

question: For what can cotton yarn be used? 

answer: crochet and knitting
Title: Cotton
Context: The cottonseed which remains after the cotton is ginned is used to produce cottonseed oil, which, after refining, can be consumed by humans like any other vegetable oil. The cottonseed meal that is left generally is fed to ruminant livestock; the gossypol remaining in the meal is toxic to monogastric animals. Cottonseed hulls can be added to dairy cattle rations for roughage. During the American slavery period, cotton root bark was used in folk remedies as an abortifacient, that is, to induce a miscarriage. Gossypol was one of the many substances found in all parts of the cotton plant and it was described by the scientists as 'poisonous pigment'. It also appears to inhibit the development of sperm or even restrict the mobility of the sperm. Also, it is thought to interfere with the menstrual cycle by restricting the release of certain hormones.

question: For what is cottonseed used after it is separate from the fibers? 

answer: cottonseed oil

question: What product is processed cottonseed oil? 

answer: vegetable oil.

question: What is cottonseed meal used for feed? 

answer: ruminant livestock

question: For what purpose are cottonseed hulls used in feed? 

answer: roughage

question: As what did early scientists describe gossypol ? 

answer: poisonous pigment
Title: Cotton
Context: Cotton linters are fine, silky fibers which adhere to the seeds of the cotton plant after ginning. These curly fibers typically are less than 1⁄8 inch (3.2 mm) long. The term also may apply to the longer textile fiber staple lint as well as the shorter fuzzy fibers from some upland species. Linters are traditionally used in the manufacture of paper and as a raw material in the manufacture of cellulose. In the UK, linters are referred to as "cotton wool". This can also be a refined product (absorbent cotton in U.S. usage) which has medical, cosmetic and many other practical uses. The first medical use of cotton wool was by Sampson Gamgee at the Queen's Hospital (later the General Hospital) in Birmingham, England.

question: What part of the cotton plant is used for paper manufacture? 

answer: Cotton linters

question: What do cotton linters look like? 

answer: fine, silky fibers

question: What are cotton linters called in the UK? 

answer: cotton wool

question: What is cotton wool called in the US? 

answer: absorbent cotton

question: What individual first used cotton wool medically? 

answer: Sampson Gamgee
Title: Cotton
Context: Cotton lisle is a finely-spun, tightly twisted type of cotton that is noted for being strong and durable. Lisle is composed of two strands that have each been twisted an extra twist per inch than ordinary yarns and combined to create a single thread. The yarn is spun so that it is compact and solid. This cotton is used mainly for underwear, stockings, and gloves. Colors applied to this yarn are noted for being more brilliant than colors applied to softer yarn. This type of thread was first made in the city of Lisle, France (now Lille), hence its name.

question: What is a fine, tightly twisted type of cotton fabric? 

answer: Cotton lisle

question: What is lisle considered to be as a fabric? 

answer: strong and durable

question: What does extra twisting of lisle thread produce? 

answer: single thread

question: Where was the lisle thread originally made? 

answer: Lisle, France

question: How is color perceived to be for lisle in comparison to softer yarns?  

answer: more brilliant
Title: Cotton
Context: The largest producers of cotton, currently (2009), are China and India, with annual production of about 34 million bales and 33.4 million bales, respectively; most of this production is consumed by their respective textile industries. The largest exporters of raw cotton are the United States, with sales of $4.9 billion, and Africa, with sales of $2.1 billion. The total international trade is estimated to be $12 billion. Africa's share of the cotton trade has doubled since 1980. Neither area has a significant domestic textile industry, textile manufacturing having moved to developing nations in Eastern and South Asia such as India and China. In Africa, cotton is grown by numerous small holders. Dunavant Enterprises, based in Memphis, Tennessee, is the leading cotton broker in Africa, with hundreds of purchasing agents. It operates cotton gins in Uganda, Mozambique, and Zambia. In Zambia, it often offers loans for seed and expenses to the 180,000 small farmers who grow cotton for it, as well as advice on farming methods. Cargill also purchases cotton in Africa for export.

question: In 2009 what were the largest producers of cotton? 

answer: China and India

question: How do the US and Africa rank as exporters of cotton? 

answer: largest exporters

question: What is the combined international trade in cotton? 

answer: $12 billion

question: What company is the top cotton broker in Africa? 

answer: Dunavant Enterprises

question: Where is Dunavant Enterprises based? 

answer: Memphis, Tennessee
Title: Cotton
Context: The 25,000 cotton growers in the United States of America are heavily subsidized at the rate of $2 billion per year although China now provides the highest overall level of cotton sector support. The future of these subsidies is uncertain and has led to anticipatory expansion of cotton brokers' operations in Africa. Dunavant expanded in Africa by buying out local operations. This is only possible in former British colonies and Mozambique; former French colonies continue to maintain tight monopolies, inherited from their former colonialist masters, on cotton purchases at low fixed prices.

question: How many subsidized cotton growers are in the US? 

answer: 25,000

question: What is the rate of subsidies of cotton growers in the US? 

answer: $2 billion per year

question: What country provides the highest rate of support for cotton growers? 

answer: China

question: Which former colonies still have tight monopolies on cotton brokering? 

answer: French

question: Where in Africa is it possible to buy out brokerages in cotton? 

answer: former British colonies