Figure 1.-- |
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With the disolution of the Soviet Union, major adjustments had to be made as the economies of the various post-Soviet states addressed the issue of privatization. The process varied from republic to republic. The two largest republics were Russia and the Ukraine. Agriculture in Russia suffered a great shock even before the privitization process began. Collectives and state farms were the core of Soviet agriculture. The Russian africultural reforms are complicated. They began under Gorbechov before the disolutin of the Soviet Union (1990) and accelerated after disoluioin (1992). Suddenly they had to pay for needed inputs which were priced for the first time in realistic terms. The result was a substantial contraction of the agricultural sector. Livestock inventories declined by one-half (1990s). This reduced demand for grain used as livestock foodstuffs. Grain plantings also dropped by 25 percent. The collectives and state farms had troubke paying for fertilizer and other needed supplies. This reduced yields. Most farms were unable to afford needed new machinery and other capital improvements. Slowly Russian agriculture began to improve (2000s). The transition to a market-oriented system has caused the collective abd state farm managers to adopt more prudent fiscal policies. There has also been changes in the structure of the agriculture sector. The state sector has been substantially reduced. Their was not a massive shift to small family farms both because of Government policy and individual choicr. There has been some land turned over to private owners, but more important in this regard has been the expansion of the area devoted to family plots. Smll farmers called peasanr farmd have slowly increased. The major shift has been from the government to corporate farming neaning that many state farms have been turned into corporations. While perhaps mot as efficent as family farms, the corporate farms and the increasing number of family farms has resulted in larger Russian farm harvests. The shift to family farms has been more pronounced in other republics, epecilly the Baltic republics.
Lithuania was still primarily an agricultural country at the time of World War II. The agriculyural economy was highly productive. The Soviet Union, at the time a NAZI ally, seized Lithuania (July 1940). The Sovietization process was interupted by the German invasion (June 1941), but opon driving out the Germans (August 1944), the Soviets resumed the Sovietization process, including the collectivization of agriculture. Productivity fell from pre-War standards. Lithuanian agriculture was, however, more productive than other areas outside the Baltics. This began to change after Stalin's death and Soviet leaders allowed officials in Vilnius some autonomy in agricultural policy (late-1950s). As a result, Lithuanian farm workers proved 50 percent more productive than the Soviet average, but still much less productive than farmers in Western Europe where individual farm ownership was allowed. As was generally the case throughout the Soviet Union, there was one productive bright spot.--individual garden plots. Collective and state farm workers were allocated individual garden plots for their own use. While a minisule portion of overall farm acerage, production from these plots totaled about one third of overall farm harvests. This could not be explained by Marxist ideology ns was not widely publicized during Soviet times. While ineddicent by Western standards, Lithuanian production was high ebough that about 50 percent if the harvest could be exported, nistly to other areas of the Soviet Union. There was considerable industrialization during the Soviet era. At the time of independence (1992), however, the agricultural sector was still about 25 percent of GDP.
Agriculture in Russia suffered a great shock even before the reform process began. Collectives and state farms were the core of Soviet agriculture. The Russian africultural reforms are complicated. They began under Gorbechov before the disolutin of the Soviet Union (1990) and accelerated after disoluioin (1992). Suddenly they had to pay for needed inputs which were priced for the first time in realistic terms. The result was a substantial contraction of the agricultural sector. Livestock inventories declined by one-half (1990s). This reduced demand for grain used as livestock foodstuffs. Grain plantings also dropped by 25 percent. The collectives and state farms had troubke paying for fertilizer and other needed supplies. This reduced yields. Most farms were unable to afford needed new machinery and other capital improvements. Slowly Russian agriculture began to improve (2000s). The transition to a market-oriented system has caused the collective and state farm managers to adopt more prudent fiscal policies. There has also been changes in the structure of the agriculture sector. The state sector has been substantially reduced. Their was not a massive shift to small family farms both because of Government policy and individual choicr. There has been some land turned over to private owners, but more important in this regard has been the expansion of the area devoted to family plots. Smll farmers called peasanr farmd have slowly increased. The major shift has been from the government to corporate farming neaning that many state farms have been turned into corporations. Russian grain harvests fell dramatically after the disolution of the Soviet Union (1992). Severe drought led to furthr problems (1998-99). Russian farms harvested only 48 million tons of grain (1998) and recovered somewhat to 60 million tons (1999). The farm down turn added to the severe economic crisis (1998). Russia had to accept humanitarian aid. Harvests slowly recovered. Farmers harvested 78 million tons of grain (2006). Farmers reported 82 million t (2007). This exceeded the 1990 harvestd by 10 percent. Livestock output, however, had not recovered and still was below 1990 levels by some 30 percent. Two major factors seem to be at play. The corporate farms appear to be using resources more efficently as they have to actually pay for inputs like fertilizer, seed, and machinery at realistic prices. While perhaps mot as efficent as family farms, the reformed corporate farms and the increasing number of family farms appears to be resulted in larger Russian farm harvests. The precise numbers are difficult to follow as available assessments often takk about grain , wheat, wheat and legumes and are thus difficult to compare. We are still looking for an historical data base. Drought reduced harvests to 71 milion t (2012). Press reports suggest a major recobery (2013). While it is difficlt to tell,the Russian farm sector does seem o be doing better than the industrial sector which is still largely inefficent and uncompetive on the world market. The Rusian economy continues tobbe largely financed by exporting raw materials, espcially energy.
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