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Jennifer Abel COMMENTS ON PAPERS


I have read with great interest many of the papers posted on the 
Privatization conference. In particular I found the papers of Drs. 
Reed and Nikolsky on agrarian reform failures and suggestions 
intriguing. I would like to address a few questions to the authors.

My questions primarily regard agricultural production issues. Dr. 
Nikolsky notes that:

Agricultural production declined by 25 per cent between 1991 and 
1995. The relatively  "modest"  decline of the past 5 years can 
be attributed to the fact that agriculture had good resources around 
1991 including proper equipment and land in good condition. By 1995 
agriculture had exhausted these resources.  Therefore a further and 
probably even faster decline in production cannot be excluded as a 
possibility. One  indication of the exhaustion of resources is the 
decline  of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals (See 
Table 10). In 1995, five time less chemical fertilizers were used than 
in 
1991.

In Interfax·s latest Food and Agriculture report, Valentin Mironov, 
the official in charge agrichemicals at the Russian Ministry of 
Agriculture, confirms these findings. He claims that 24,000 tons of 
domestically produced crop protection chemicals and 5,000 tons of 
imported chemicals will be available for application this year, 30% of 
what is needed under current general production standards in Russia. 

Dr. Reed acknowledges the need to encourage alternative and more 
sustainable production methods, but recognizes that without 
¸ownershipª of resources and economic incentives for protecting them, 
attempts to convert hectares to ¸sustainableª production may be futile 
Dr. Reed writes:

As a consequence of the Soviet period, agricultural workers were only 
able 
to exercise any initiative and make their own decisions regarding 
production 
in their private plots.  It is significant therefore that it is in 
private plot
production that they do husband their soil and nutrient resources, 
made 
maximal use of available labour, demonstrate considerable ingenuity 
in 
preserving and storing output for winter consumption, and 
entrepreneurship 
in the marketing or barter of surpluses. 

Ownership is considered to bias the selection of  agricultural 
production 
technologies from among the broad array of possibilities in favour of 
those 
which are sustainable.  The superiority of ownership over tenancy in 
this 
regard was emphasized by Arthur Young (1741-1820), an English writer 
on 
agriculture, when he wrote ¸Give a man the secure possession of bleak 
rock 
and he will turn it into a garden; give him a nine years lease on a 
garden 
and he will turn it into a desertª.  

Given the current conditions for farm workers and rural residents in 
Russia, what do the authors feel, from an economic and social 
standpoint, are reasonable, low-cost and effective farming and crop 
protection strategies that a wide range of food producers could adopt? 
I am also interested in the authors· views on alternative marketing 
strategies. Could food products grown using ¸sustainableª farming 
techniques be sold through direct marketing techniques (farmers· 
markets, selling directly to restaurants and stores, Community 
Supported Agriculture programs, etc.)? I realize that an 
infrastructure for such things is not in place, but given the increase 
in imported food products in Russia, I am curious as to the authors· 
opinions on ways to market quality, domestically-produced goods.

Comments from other conference participants are also welcome.

Jennifer Abel,
Rodale Institute, US
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**  Conference: Privatization of Russian Agriculture            **
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