RUMANIAN AGRICULTURE DETERIORATES UNDER COMMUNISTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050528-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 22, 2011
• Sequence Number: 528
• Publication Date: April 7, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/23: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700050528-9
CLASSIFICATION RES 'RICTED
CENTRAL IN EGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
COUNTRY Rumania
SUBJECT Economic - Agriculture
HOW
PUBLISHED Monthly periodical
WHERE
PUBLISHED Stuttgart, Germany
DATE
PUBLISHED Apr - Jun 1951
LANGUAGE Rumanian
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Orizontr-i (Emigre), No 4-6, 1951.
REPORT
CD NNO.
DATE OF
DATE DIST. 7 Apr, 1952
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
RUMANIAN AGRICULTURE DETERIORATES UNDER COISMUNISTS
Iulian Prundean, Agric Eng
Since World War I, Rumania had been known as the granary of Europe. She
was, and still remains, a typically agricultural country, whose soil and climate
favor the cultivation of all temperate-climate plants. The droughts which, in
former times, caused serious damage to corn and other crops are now greatly re-
duced through the aid of new agrotechnical developments.
Notwithstanding the favorable soil and climatic conditions of the country,
Rumania's agricultural yield is very low. This is caused by various factors:
insufficient and antiquated agricultural equipment; reduced buying power; large
price discrepancy between agricultural and industrial products; abolition of
rural property; inadequate training in modern methods; and lack of easy-term
farm credit.
In the decade 1^..) - 1954 crop yield and crop area varied considerably,
but generally, the :ultivated areas were much smaller than those prior to the
war? The lowest points were reached in the first half of 1942 and the second
half of 1947. This reduced acreage was the result of political e'asures such
as grain price ceilings, compulsory delivery quotas, etc.
Wheat, which accounts for 30 percent of Rumania's total crop area, and
corn, which accounts for 50 percent, are complementary crops. In 1941 and
1946, when wheat production reached its peak, corn production was at a mini-
mum; conversely, in 1942 and 1947, when wheat harvests were low, corn harvests
were correspondingly high. Barley, oats, and rye yields varied considerably
from year to year, although the general pattern showed an increase in the'
second half of the decade. Rice, which before the war was cultivated only in.
small areas, achieved particular importance after the war, and attempts were
made to meet the demands of internal consumption.
Medicinal plants comprise another category in Rumanian agriculture. The
area planted to sunflowers, colza, soya, castor beans, mustard, poppies, and
the like -underwent a notable change. The area'planted to colza and soya
CLASSIFICATION
STATE ~'n MSRB
ARMY l)d -I- s~ nr I ~'
STAT
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decreased from 61,ooo hectares before the war to 32,000 hectares after the war.
Conversely, the sunflower area increased f^om .3,200 to 191,000 hectares, and
cotton, from 1,700 to 35,000 hectares. The area'
rea planted to flax, hemp, cotton,
sugar beet, and tobacco also increased considerably during the decade.
Vegetable raising was give.; full support by the government at the expense
of other crops. As an example, the pea crop increased over 600 percent, or
from 42,100 to 263,000 hectares. The characteristic Rumanian method of grow-
ing vegetables is to plant beans, squash, potatoes, or other vegetables between
rows of co-. Insofar s beans are concerned, such planting accounted for over
three fourths of the entire bean production.
Cattle raising, the second main branch of Rumanian agriculture was never
developed to the full extent that was needed. considering the vital role played
by draft animals in the nation's agriculture. Horses, pigs, and poultry
suffered the greatest losses during the decade 1940 - 1950, because of large
confiscations by the Soviet Army. More than 330,000 oxen, 7'.1,000 sheep and
237,000 pigs were requisitioned between September 1944 and December 1945 alone.
Moreover, the severe drought of 1945 - 1946 and the so-called agrarian reform
of 1945, coupled with the deterioration of t!-a nation's agricultural equipment,
further aggravated the situation. Toward the end of the decade, large-scale
collectivization was sought as the cure to all these evils, but instead, waste,
poor management., and poverty were the only achievements.
Tools and equipment being entirely unsuited to the needs of modern agri-
culture, the crop yield was greatly reduced. The absence of basic farm ma-
chinery, such as tractors and grain drills, was especially felt. However.
during the early years of the war, this condition improved somewhat because of
the large imports of tractors and other agricultural machinery from Germany.
The agrarian reform of 1945 resulted in serious losses of tools and equip-
ment, inasmuch as these were requisitioned by the state and received improper
care.
Viticulture is another phase of Rumanian agricultural activity. Too
many people in the past engaged in arbitrary grape cultivation without regard
for suitable soil and climatic conditions, thereby depriving various areas of
more important crops.
Less than Fruit growing is quite important in all hilly regions of the country.
50 percent of Rumania's fruit is cultivated in orchards; the rest
grove wild throughout the land. Plum trees are the most numerous, repre-
senting 46 million of the 85 million fruit trees in Rumania in 1938, or a
total of 54.6 percent, while apple trees account for 19 percent, cherry trees
for 8.2 percent, walnut trees for 5.0 percent, pear trees for 4.6
appricot trees for 4.4 percent, and other types of trees for 3.3 percpercent,
ent of the
The most valuable tree from the export point of view is the walnut, because
of its value to the lumber industry and the value of walnuts as a commodity.
The following are the foremost problems in Rumanian tree growth: cultivating
a proportionate variety of trees, reducing losses due to waste (before the last
war the losses from unpicked fruit were more than 20 percent of the total fruit
yield), standardizing and canning the fruit, and organizing fruit-distribution
centers.
The forest area occupies about one fourth of all land devoted to agri-
culture 5i], averaging approximately 0.36 hectare per capita. Annual per-
centage of growth varies between 2.1 and 2.9 cubic meters per hectare, poor
in comparison with that of other European countries and in view of Rumania's
STAT
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soil and climate conditions. Of Rumania's total wooded area, coniferous
forests account for 25 percent, and deciduous forests for the remainder, beech
trees representing more than 40 percent of all Rumanian forests and oak about
25 percent. With respect to their age, over 50 percent of the forests are less
then 40 years old, while 25 percent are more than 80 years old.
Fishing could become a large source of national revenue by proper exploi=
tation of the numerous inland rivers and lakes. At present, over 90 percent of
the fish are caught either in the Black Sea or in the Danube River and their
respective streams. The average yearly fish catch during 1940 - 1944 was
24,373,800 kilograms varying between 16,060,400 in 1.943 and 40,860;900 in 1942.
Considering the abundance of fish in Rumanian waters, the yearly catch is
much smaller than it should be. This is caused by neglect of the inland waters,
badly planned fish culture, and lack of proper fishing equipment.
Rumanian agriculture in the decade 1940 - 1950 was largely influenced by
the political developments of the time. -as war reduced greatly the number of
farm laborers and draft animals available and curtailed any further agri-
cultural developments. However, on the positive side it also brought about an
increase in vegetables and medicinal plants, as well as the cultivation of
heretofore unplanteek crops such as the castor beans, rice, and cotton.
The end of the wn.' did not usher in an era of prosperity. Losses suffered
in the last months, reduction in both livestock and equipment, Soviet occupation
and its resulting interference in every phase of Rumania's internal affairs,
numerous state requisitions, all had a disastrous effect on Rums-'an agriculture.
Furthermore, the so-called agrarian reform of 1945, the drought of the 1945 -
1946 season, and the Soviet confiscation of more than 400,000 hectares formerly
owned by Rumanians of German origin also contributed to the decline. As a re-
sult, the former "granary of Europe" suffered a most frightening famine in
1946 - 1947.
The installation of the Communist regime and especially the creation of
the Rumanian People's Republic brought a complete change in the agricultural
structure of the country. Following the socialist pattern of the Soviet Union,
the Rumanian government established agricultural collectives and state farms.
After first abolishing all large landholdings, the government started a cam-
paign of annihilation directed against the larded farmer and the middle-class
peasant. The destruction of these two classes was the greatest 'blow to the
economy of the nation, since heretofore they had been the largest food growers.
At the same time, the lack of agricultural machinery and the resistance of the
Rumanian peasant contributed to the failure of the collectives, despit whole-
hearted support given by the government to the collectives.
At the end of 1950, there were only 1,000 agricultural collectives in the
country, totaling 65,000 families and 268,640 hectares of land. This was less
than 3 percent of the arable land and only 1.2 percent of the agricultural land.
Moreover, in spite of large-scale efforts to establish collectives, government
officials were obliged to denounce the grave errors committed by the collect iv-
ists, such as negligent waste of materials, inefficiency of state farms, high
cost of production, failure to meet quotas. and many other faults of the system.
Rumania's agriculture under the Soviet regime has progressively deter-
iorated. In short, when the middle-class farmer was destroyed, the personal
interest and initiative of every Rumanian peasant was likewise extinguished,
leaving in its stead a dull awareness that the Soviet Union is the sole bene-
ficiary of the fruits and labors of Rumanian agriculture.
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STAT