Prospects For Soviet Grain Production by Brigitta Young

Author:Brigitta Young [Young, Brigitta]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Social Science, Agriculture & Food
ISBN: 9781000308396
Google: aq2bDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-06-04T01:35:38+00:00

Emphasis During 1971-1975 (Ninth Five-Year Plan)

Policies from the earlier period were continued but with a growing emphasis on livestock production. After the harvest shortfall of 1972,

Table 3-9

PRODUCTION OF MAJOR CROPS AND ANIMAL PRODUCTS, PLANNED AND ACTUAL, SELECTED YEARS

the USSR committed itself to the international purchase of grain to provide additional feed for livestock. In 1974 the Soviet Union also became a regular meat importer.

Output in livestock products was targeted to grow by 23 percent over the previous period and the per capita meat consumption was to increase at an equal rate.170 To facilitate this rapid build-up, the emphasis was shifted to the industrial production of the livestock sector. The Ninth FYP also called for an increase of 40 percent in feed supplies from the Eighth FYP, with grains supplying 26 percent of the total. The production of fertilizer and its delivery to agriculture were an integral part of this emphasis on expansion of feed output, as were irrigation and drainage programs.

In 1974 Brezhnev unveiled a new land improvement plan to develop the non-chernozem soil region (mostly North European USSR), to be completed by 1990. "Land Reclamation work is to include drainage of 9 to 10 million hectares, irrigation of 2 to 2.5 million hectares, and liming of 23 million hectares."171 The plan also stressed social amenities to attract rural workers.

Agricultural Output, 1971-1975. The rapid and steady increases during the 1966-70 period were not maintained in the subsequent period. Net agricultural production showed an average rate of decline of 0.2 percent and crop production fell by 1.6 percent. The gains in livestock products were 1.1 percent annually, down from 2.7 percent during the previous period.

But annual averages distort the great year-to-year fluctuations in grain output. The grain harvests of 1973 and particularly 1974 (reaching more than 220 metric tons) were excellent, but the shortfalls in 1972 and specifically in 1975 counteracted these gains. The 1975 crop failure was so severe that despite grain imports, livestock holdings had to be liquidated, resulting in a severe decline in livestock in 1976.172 "The value of livestock inventories fell 3 percent, with hogs down 20 percent, poultry down 7 percent, and sheep and goats off 3 percent...necessitating a scaling down of meat output plans for the remainder of the 1970's."173

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