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Soviet Union [USSR] PRODUCTION
Agricultural self-sufficiency has been the goal of Soviet
leadership since the
Bolshevik Revolution (see Glossary), but it
was not until the late 1940s that food supplies were adequate to
prevent widespread hunger. Farm output had suffered greatly as a
result of Stalin's policies of forced collectivization, low
procurement prices, and underinvestment in agriculture; at the time
of his death in 1953, both the quality and the quantity of the food
supply were inferior to that of the precollectivization period.
Under Khrushchev and Brezhnev, improved agricultural
performance became a top priority, and sown area for major crops
increased (see
table 36, Appendix A). By 1983 the APK accounted for
more than 40 percent of the total value of the country's fixed
capital assets, created 42 percent of total national income, and
provided 75 percent of total retail turnover in state and
cooperative trade. In spite of the massive investments of the 1970s
and 1980s, however, the sector generally did not perform well.
Whereas the annual growth rate of agricultural output averaged 3.9
percent between 1950 and 1970, it actually declined to 1.2 percent
in the decade of the 1970s. And between 1981 and 1985, grain output
averaged only 180.3 million tons, substantially below the 1976-80
average of 205 million tons and not even matching the 1971-75
average of 181.6 million tons.
In 1986 this downward trend was reversed, as the fourth best
grain harvest in Soviet history was recorded--210.1 million tons.
In spite of severe winter weather and a late spring, the 1987
harvest was even larger, 211.3 million tons, marking the first time
in Soviet history that output exceeded 200 million tons for two
consecutive years. Gorbachev's policies of increased reliance on
contract-brigade farming and delegation of broader decision-making
authority to local managers were given partial credit for this
improvement in agricultural performance.
Another important contributing factor to the improved
agricultural performance of 1986 and 1987, according to Western
analysts, was the cumulative effect of nearly two decades of heavy
investment in the agricultural infrastructure. Notable progress had
been made in livestock housing, machinery manufacturing, and
fertilizer production. Nevertheless, much remained to be done. As
many as 40 percent of the nation's farms still lacked storage
facilities, and the average farm was hundreds of kilometers from
the nearest grain elevator or meat-packing plant. Much of the rural
road network was not hard surfaced and during the rainy seasons
became impassable. Although the Soviet Union had become the world's
largest tractor manufacturer, surpassing the United States by 4.5
times in the 1980s, the quality of this machinery was low and spare
parts were virtually nonexistent. Enormous progress had been made
in the development of the agricultural chemical industry, and
deliveries increased substantially (see
table 37, Appendix A). The
expansion of transportation, storage, and packaging capacity did
not keep pace with it. Over 10 percent of the chemical fertilizer
produced never reached the farms.
Data as of May 1989
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