|
Albania
Mechanization
Faithful to Stalin's teachings on agricultural organization,
Albania's communist regime allowed state farms to possess tractors
but gave collective farms access to machinery only through machine
tractor stations (see Glossary). These stations remained a cornerstone
of Albania's collective agricultural sector for decades. In 1991
the thirty-three machine tractor stations controlled about 63
percent of Albania's 10,630 tractors and 25 percent of its 1,433
combine harvesters; state farms controlled the rest. Official
inventories also listed 1,857 threshers. As the old order collapsed,
the tractor stations metamorphosed into state-owned "agricultural
machinery enterprises" that offered their services to peasant
customers on a contractual basis. These enterprises often ignored
state limitations on service charges, demanding exorbitant fees
as well as compensation for fuel at prices higher than those charged
at the pump. Some tractor drivers bought older Chinese tractors
and offered their services at prices up to 40 percent more than
those charged by the state enterprises. More than 75 percent of
Albania's tractors were over fifteen years old in 1991; most tractors
were in disrepair because plant closures had cut off supplies
of spare parts.
Data as of April 1992
|
