Some people suggest that a country should try to produce all the food for its population and import as little food as possible. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Sample Response
Every country wants to reduce its dependency on imports while maximising its exports including items such as food and crops. However, not all countries have the same geographical conditionsgeographic location, weather condition, technology and suitable landlands to produce each type of crop the citizens need. This is why a country should focus more on its overall economic growth rather than using manpower and budget to become self-reliant on food. To begincommence with, soil, weather conditions, available landweather condition, available lands, technology and demographics of a countrycounty determine what crops, vegetables and fruits it can produce. Not all countries have the same geographical features and manpower, and thus, it is obvious that the country needs to import some of the items. In many cases, this is morerather advantageous than growing cropsproducing or growing crops and then harvesting the grains. For instance, it is impossible for an Arab country to produce all types of foodfoods due to its climatic conditionsdue to its weather condition. If it focusesIf they focus on growing these food items and deploy its workforceengage their manpower to do sothat, their economic growth would be hindered. Moreover, countries like Germany and Chinaa country like Germany and China can focus on manufacturing and industrial innovation while importingimport food from other countries. The ultimate outcome is more beneficial than pursuing food self-sufficiencymore beneficial for them. However, this might not be the case for a country that solely depends on the agriculture sector and when a majority of its population is already dependenta majority of its population are already dependant on it. They can focus on improving their productionproductions, but this model is not suitable for industrial countries. To conclude, I believe that free trade and globalisation have made the world a global village. And with the efficient transport systemsspeedy transportation system, the cost of importing foodfood import cost has already declined. Since fulfilling the population's diverse needsthe mass people's diverse needs for various kinds of food is not feasible for a country, it should focus on its true potential rather than allocating budget and manpower to become self-sufficient in foodself-dependent on food.
Why this response received Band 6.5
The response’s strongest feature is its clear, nuanced rejection of complete food self-sufficiency, supported by relevant contrasts between climate, agriculture, and industrial specialisation. Its main limitation is that the entire argument is presented as one paragraph and several examples are broad or imprecisely expressed. The highest-priority improvement is to organise the case into focused paragraphs and polish agreement, comparison structures, and natural economic collocations.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Response
The response maintains a clear position and develops relevant arguments about natural constraints, comparative advantage, and different economic structures.
Make the examples more precise and explain more fully why selective importing produces better outcomes than national self-sufficiency.
Coherence and Cohesion
The argument has a recognisable progression from constraints to examples and qualification, but the absence of paragraph breaks weakens organisation.
Separate the rationale, supporting examples, and qualification into focused paragraphs with clearer internal sequencing.
Lexical Resource
A sufficiently flexible vocabulary supports discussion of trade, agriculture, resources, and industrial specialisation, despite several imprecise combinations.
Use more natural phrases in place of “rather advantageous than,” “improving their productions,” and “self-dependent on food.”
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
The response uses varied complex structures, but recurring agreement, comparison, pronoun, and verb-form errors reduce control.
Check subject-verb agreement and parallel clause forms, especially when shifting between a singular country and plural pronouns.
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IELTS Writing Task 2
Some people suggest that a country should try to produce all the food for its population and import as little food as possible. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.