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Soviet Union [USSR] LAND USE
Although the Soviet Union has the world's largest soil
resources, climatic and hydrological conditions make farming a
high-risk venture, even within the most favorable zone, the
so-called fertile triangle. This tract has the general shape of an
isosceles triangle, the base of which is a line between the Baltic
and Black seas and the apex of which is some 5,000 kilometers to
the east near Krasnoyarsk. To the north of this triangle, the
climate is generally too cold, and to the south it is too dry for
farming. Because of the Soviet Union's northern latitude (most of
the country lies north of 50 north latitude; all of the United
States except Alaska lies south of this latitude) and the limited
moderating influence of adjacent bodies of water on the climate of
much of the country, growing conditions can dramatically vary from
year to year. As a consequence, crop yields fluctuate greatly. Only
about 27 percent of the Soviet Union is considered agricultural
land, of which roughly 10 percent is arable
(see
fig. 17). About 15
percent of Soviet territory is too arid, 20 percent too cold, 30
percent too rugged, and 8.5 percent too marshy to permit farming.
And in areas where the growing season is long enough, rainfall is
frequently inadequate; only 1.1 percent of the arable land receives
the optimal precipitation of at least 700 millimeters per year
(compared with 60 percent of arable land in the United States and
80 percent in Canada).
North of the fertile triangle lie the treeless Arctic tundra,
covering 9.3 percent of the country's territory, and an immense
coniferous forest, the taiga, which occupies 31 percent of the
territory. The tundra is an inhospitable region of permafrost and
swampy terrain, agriculturally suitable only for reindeer herding.
In the taiga zone, the climate becomes increasingly continental
from the northwestern reaches of the country eastward into Siberia.
East of the Yenisey River, permafrost is pervasive, and throughout
the taiga vast swampy tracts and infertile podzol preclude all
agricultural activity except for reindeer herding and limited
cultivation of hay, rye, oats, barley, flax, potatoes, and
livestock along the southern frontier of the zone. Of far greater
economic importance are the forestry and fur industries of the
taiga.
Along its southwestern periphery, the taiga merges with a mixed
hardwood and conifer forest, which accounts for another 8.2 percent
of the country's total area. This zone is shaped like a triangle
with its base in the west formed by the Estonian, Latvian,
Lithuanian, Belorussian, and northwestern Ukrainian republics and
its apex in the east at a point beyond the Kama River. With heavy
application of fertilizers, the gray-brown soils of the region can
be relatively productive. Much of the land is highly marshy and
requires costly drainage measures. The mixed-forest zone supports
meat and milk production and the widespread cultivation of hay,
oats, rye, buckwheat, sugar beets, potatoes, and flax. Wheat is
also grown in the area, but with only limited success because of
the shortness of the season.
A transitional forest-steppe zone stretches in a belt 250 to
500 kilometers wide from the western Ukrainian Republic to the
Urals, occupying approximately 7.7 percent of Soviet territory.
This area has the best agricultural land in the Soviet Union
because of the richness of its
chernozem (see Glossary) soil, the
abundance of precipitation, and the temperateness of the climate.
A wide variety of grains, sugar beets, and livestock are raised
here. The most serious problem confronting agriculture in the zone
is severe water and wind erosion, which has resulted from the
removal of much of the forest cover.
Farther south are the vast open steppes, which extend from the
Moldavian Republic in a northeasterly direction across the northern
part of the Kazakh Republic as far as Krasnoyarsk, covering roughly
15 percent of the Soviet Union. It is a region of relatively low
precipitation, where periodic droughts have calamitous effects on
agriculture. Because the lighter soils of this region are nearly as
fertile as the chernozem of the forest-steppe and because the
growing season is longer, when moisture is adequate, crop yields
can be large. Irrigation is widely practiced throughout the steppe,
particularly in the middle and lower Volga River Valley and in the
southern Ukrainian and Kazakh republics. The primary crop of the
region is wheat, although barley is also widely sown. Corn is an
important crop in the Donets-Dnepr region, and millet is sown along
the Volga and on the Ural steppes. Sugar beets, sunflowers, fruits,
and vegetables are also cultivated on a large scale.
Immediately south of the steppes is a zone of semidesert and
desert that includes the northeastern edge of the Caucasus region,
the Caspian Lowland and lower Volga River Valley, the central and
southern Kazakh Republic, and all of Soviet Central Asia.
Irrigation projects of epic proportions make agriculture in this
arid region possible. Among the most noteworthy of these projects
in the 1980s were the Karakum Canal, over 1,100 kilometers of which
had been completed by 1988, designed to provide irrigation water
for 1.5 million hectares in the Turkmen Republic; the Fergana
Valley in the Uzbek Republic, with over 1 million hectares under
irrigation; the Golodnaya Steppe, west of the Fergana Valley, where
over 500,000 hectares were irrigated; and numerous other projects
exploiting the limited water resources of the Vakhsh, Amu Darya,
Chu, Syr Darya, Zeravshan, Kashka Darya, and other Central Asian
rivers. The region specialized in such crops as cotton, alfalfa,
and fruits and vegetables; the raising of sheep, goats, and cattle
was widespread.
In the Caucasus region, two small subtropical areas along the
Black and Caspian seas specialize in exotic crops such as citrus
fruit, tea, and tobacco, as well as grapes, other fruits, early
vegetables, and cotton. The mountains provide pasturage for sheep
and goats.
Agriculture is a productive enterprise on the southern rim of
eastern Siberia and the Soviet Far East, primarily in the Amur,
Bureya, and Zeya river valleys; Olekminskly Raion in the central
Yakut Autonomous Republic; and Primorskiy Krai on the Sea of Japan.
The area is well suited for livestock, especially beef and dairy
cattle, wheat, rice, sugar beets, and other crops.
Throughout the Soviet era, massive projects have been
undertaken to expand the area of arable land. Drainage efforts have
been concentrated in the northwest, i.e., the Belorussian,
Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, and northwestern Russian republics.
The great expense of drainage is justified by the proximity of
these areas to major urban centers, where demand for farm products
is highest. Between 1956 and 1986, the area of the nation's drained
farmland more than doubled from 8.4 million to 19.5 million
hectares. The area under irrigation increased from 10.1 million
hectares in 1950 to 20.4 million hectares in 1986. Of this total,
Soviet Central Asia accounted for 8.5 million, the Russian Republic
for 6.1 million, and the Ukrainian Republic for 2.4 million
hectares. In 1984 Gorbachev claimed that irrigated land yielded all
the country's cotton and rice, three-quarters of its vegetables,
half of its fruit and wine grapes, and a quarter of its feed crops.
In 1986 drained or irrigated farmland accounted for almost a third
of total national crop production.
Data as of May 1989
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