PAST CROPS AND ESTIMATE FOR NEAR FUTURE

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
CIA-RDP82-00047R000200660003-3
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
S
Document Page Count: 
4
Document Creation Date: 
December 23, 2016
Document Release Date: 
April 17, 2013
Sequence Number: 
3
Case Number: 
Publication Date: 
April 4, 1953
Content Type: 
REPORT
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PDF icon CIA-RDP82-00047R000200660003-3.pdf405.5 KB
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release .@ 50-Yr 2014/11/04: CIA-RDP82-00047R000200660003-3 CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY INFORMATION REPORT COUNTRY USSR SUBJECT Past Crops and Estimate for Near Future PLACE ACQUIRED DATE ACQUIRED DATE OF INFORMATION THIS DOOLIMINT CCCCC INS INFORMATION APPICTINS TNI NATIONAL 1111111 RF THI %mil(' IT TTTTT WITHIN INN MIANINS OP TITLI II, ICOTIONS 71R /NO 714, OF ?NI U.S. COOK, AI AMINDIO, ITS T AAAAA ISSION ON 11111. LATION OP ITS OOOOO NTS TO OR 0111 PT ST AN LINARTNORIlilf PINION II ORSNISITIS IT Al,L ?NE NNNNN OWITION OP TNII FIRM IN PROHIIITIR. ORFt 6124 DATE DISTR.it5 Apr 19? - � - -50X1 NO. OF PAGES 4 NO. OF ENCLS. (LISTED BELOW) SUPPLEMENT TO REPORT NO. THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION 50X1 50X1 Mum ardmmelen 5 0 X 1 50X1 50X1 rye, wheat, oats, and barley principal cereal grains. In 1932, according to the informatioa t.ne wosnenskiy and. Lynbanskiy ress,50X1 which combined about 300 kolkhozes, the wheat crops mounted, on the average to 8 centners per hectare; rye, 11 ceatners; and oats, 10 csatners. In 1933, the average wheat crop was 7 ceatners per hectare; rye, 9 centners; and oats, 10 centners (a centner equals 100 kilograms). The 1934 crop situation in Sovkhoz was different. There, only 6 50X1 centners of wheat per hectare were co ed., due to the terrible, dry winds prevalent during that year. Moreover, because of the shortage of spare parts for tractors and. agricultural implements, 35 % of the tractors were out of repair, and we were, therefore, late with the sowing and. dropped the seeds into the dry earth. The crops were: barley) U centners per hectare on the average; rye) 7 centners. The oats pei milted almost completely; we did. not collect euough even for the sowing. kg far as wheat was concerned, although it had been sown much earlier than usual, it yielded 4 centners per hectare. In order to combat humidity, the People's Commissar of Sovkhozes ordered through the Party organizatior the sawing of wheat by hand. in spite of the fact that snow still covered. the fields in places. In three days, 150 persons sowed. the land which had. been tilled back in autumn, seeding it between the tilled, but unharrowed ridges. In a few days, under the action of dry winds and the sun, the ridges turned. Into dry clods. When it became possible to harrow the soil and. we broke up the clods, the grain was found exposed, dried out by the wind, and unable to sprout. In 1935, the standing wheat crop after flowering was estimated. tit; sk �...!entners, per hectare. But when it came to harvesting, the yield. was only 9 ceatners per hectare, because the crops had been infected, with rust and. kidney vetch Liana, probably misprint for Bread baked. with this wheat was dark and. bitterish in taste. ollected 11 centners of rye, 9 centnezi of oat%) and n 9 centners of barley per eetare on the average. The crops in the kolkhozessulr-- rounding (917,1_ even wprse than OUTS. 50x SECRET/SECURITX INFORMATION DISTRIBUTION A PA/ OFtR EV Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/11/04: CIA-RDP82-00047R000200660003-3 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/11/04: CIA-RDP82-00047R000200660003-3 SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION 50X1 2. 50X1 There was just one method for estimating crops. A special commission des- ignated by the Rayon Land Section from among its own methership and augmented by people from Party organizations, and the authorized agent of the People's Commissariat of Supplies visited the fields twice) the first time, ilmediately after the flowering of the grains, and the second time, when the grain was fully ripe. The commission out the grain in several sectors on an area of one square aster. These ears were dried in wear and the grai: was threshed by hand and. weighed. Let us say, 140 grans of wheat were obtained. from one square meter in the first sector, 150 in the second, 160 in the third, and 110 in the fourth. These figures were added and a total of 560 grams was obtained. This divided by four gave an average of 140 grams of wheat per one square meter on all sectors; 140 was multiplied by 10,000 square meters, making 1,4000000 grams, or 1,400 kilograms, 'which is oval to 14 centners. The commission drew up a statement, which vas signed by the commission and the sovkho7_or_k7lkhoz administration, to the effect that the wheat crops in Sovkhoz had been found to average 14 centners per hectare ois the 50X1 entire area sown with wheat. The quantity to Ise delivered to State grain elevators was assessed on the basis of such a document. This method of estimating crops helped to turn hundreds of responsible workers into slaves, because the real situation after the crops had been collected never correspon- ded to that envisaged by the commission. 50X1 50X1 Of course, nowhere and never did those figures represent the real situation on a farm after the harvest. The difference between the estimate of standing crops and the yield after threshing fluctuated between two and four centners per hectare, 50X1 There were always losses of grain during the gathering of a crop both in kolkhozes and sovkhozes. The losses, an meationed above, amounted an the average to 2-4 centners per hectare; they almost never varied. 50X1 50X1 The main reason for losses during the harvest were as follows Poor organization of labor. This poor organization stems from the fact that neither the laborers nor the members of the kolkhozes and sovkhozes have any interest in production. Absen_te_.L.L)f,mians.Live. The absence of interest and individual in- istive in the kolkhoz men is explained by the fact that they are paid for their work per work-day after the State taxes have been turned in, after the MTS has been paid in kind for tilling the soil, after the seed reserves have been set aside, after the insurance and cultural funds have been set aside, after the kolkhoz livestock has been provided"with fodder for the next year, after a fund for public construction has been eatablished, and after grain has been delivered in payment for the "voluntary" Mate loans. After all these items have been taken care of, one or two kilogram are left EtO be pai47 for a work-day even in the best of kolkhozes while in the nedium and poor ones only 300 grams) at most, 1 kilogram ere left for a work-day. There is no initiative in the sovkhozes because a laborer makes at nost 120-150 rubles a month working 14-12 hours a day. In addition, one must take into account the poor housing conditions, the collective quartering of workers in houses and hotels, the shortage of food, clothing, and footwear, SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/11/04: CIA-RDP82-00047R000200660003-3 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/11/04: CIA-RDP82-00047R000200660003-3 3, SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION - 3 - the strict financial discipline, and cheap prices paid by the State for grain and neat, Money alloted to a kolkhoz for living expenses covers only 50,60% of the needs of the kolkhoz meters. 50X1 IL124123111122istmlaa!, the absence of spare parts for tractors and complex agricultural machinery, the absence of adequate numbers of male workers, and the shortage of specialists and mechanization promotors who understand the machines are further reasons for losses during the harvest. In addition, there is a custom in the USSR of flooding the koikhozes and sovkhooes during the harvesting season with "volunteers" from towns and cities in order to help with the gathering of crops. These workers arrive in a kolkhoz or a sovkhoz after a hard working day in their industries and are obliged to put in another three or four hours of work in the fields. Students who have dreamed of a vacation are driven to work in kolkhozes and sovkhozee. Kom- somols and Pioneer schoolchildren, who have dreamed of enjoying nature, are also forced to work in the kolkhozes. All these "volunteers, who have no idea of farming, who work gratis, without incentive, who have neither know- ledge nor physical ability for such work, are only a burden on the kolkhoz food supplies and do more harsithan good to the kolkhoz. But the State ignores this and sends tens of thousands of them to the country, because it is afraid lest the crops be left for the winter under the snow. It chooses the lesser evil: It is better to suffer a loss of 2-4 centners due to the exploitation of strangers who have nothing to do with agricultural economy than to leave the crops in the fields for the winter. 50X1 Another very important cause is the absence of transport in the sovkhozes 50X1 and kolkhozes. In order to deliver 71000 tons of grain during a period. of 20 harvesting days, from the fields to the State grain elevators A distance of 30 kilometers in the specific case: needed A) transport 250 tons a day, while in the sovkhozvere four trucks. Sixty trucks were sent down tom towns, but 5C,% of them 50X1 were under repair or were completely lacking it spare parte. Tnese were loaded directly from the comninee end carried ooain to the elevator, Every trip of every truck shoved a shortage of 70-80 kilogram o grelno sometimes the losses amounted to as muA as one centner. The drivers and loading men did not steal the grain en route because they were accoloenied by a Party member belonging to the organization, Because of the shootage of grain sacks, however, the grain was poured directly into the vehSoless and this caused considerable losses due to the movement of the srucee These are the main causes of losses of crops. Secondary losses were sus- tained, in the cutting, stacking, drying, transportation to threehinz machines, threshing, or rainy weather, etc. 50X1 50X1 that crops in the USSR will not improve 50X1 in the next ten years under prevailing agricultural conditions. If con- 50X1 ditions are improved. the crons may be increased. but very slightly., ss 10-15 %. 50X1 This 10-15% improvement in the crops will be achieved thrrya41 50X1 forestation, construction of irrigation systems, and an increase in the production of mineral fertilizers. With respect to organic fertile, 50X1 there never will be any An the UOSRo because kolkhoz nen are depriven the right to own livestock; and livestock in koikhozee does not easely increase because the kolkhoz men Some no inteesest in 11... The eloeenot of private initiative, the intensification of Party and political control, the resultant enslavement, the miserable existence of millions of peasants and the absence of any hope for the future, restrains the peasants, cr rather strengthens the passive resistapee of the peasant masses against SECRET/SECURITY INFORIATION Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/11/04: CIA-RDP82-00047R000200660003-3 Declassified in Part- Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr2014/11/04 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000200660003-3 uw. SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION the Soviet regime. It is absurd to maintain, as the Bolsheviks would have it, that crops will be doubled in ten years. Where there is no free economic initiative, no political freedom, where a man cannot enjoy the fruits of his own labor, where he works under the whip, in fear of death or complete slavery, the level of a free producer cannot be attained. A number of methods are used by peasants in their passive resistance in the field of agriculture. Among them are the following: The koikhoz men in the role of passive resis- tance against the government almost always are late with the sowing in the spring and in the fall. They do not sow all the grain intended for sowing. They till the land badly and sow weeds on the black soil. They pollute the wheat with oats, barley, millet, and other cultures; they deliberately augment the losses during harvests. They stack so that rain may penetrate inside the stacks. When they thresh, they place the drum' in such a tanher as to prevent the ears from being thoroughly threshed. They are late with the repairs of � agricultural equipment. They build the threshing floors in such a way as to increase the losses in threshing. No Party control is able to detect or prevent all these machinations. - end - SECRET/SECURITY ISPORMATION Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2014/11/04: CIA-RDP82-00047R000200660003-3