ECONOMIC - RECLAMATION OF FARM LANDS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600220807-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 28, 2011
• Sequence Number: 807
• Publication Date: May 6, 1949
• Content Type: REPORT

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ED
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO ]BROADCASTS
COUNTRY Yugoslavia
SUBJECT Economic - Reclamation of farm lands
HOW
PUBLISHED Daily newspaper
WHERE
PUBLISHED Belgrade
DATE
17 Max 1949
PUBLISHED
LANGUAGE
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SOURCE Akbar go 65, 1949
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1949
DATE DIST. 6 May 1949
NO. OF PAGES 3
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
According to the Five-Tear Plan, 400,000 hectares of land are to be
fully. reclaimed by the and of 1931. This means that irrigation and drainage
system will be built and that the present water system will be expanded by
the construction of new water-pumping stations ooneuning 30,000 kilowatts.
Tens of thousands of hectares of farm land will be reolaied for cultivation
through the reclamation of the Lamja Pol,+,e (Basin), the various polje in
Boaaist losavins, and the Pelegonija; by the draining of Lake Skadar; and by
the reclamation of the Uloinj Polle, the Bjelopavlioi Plain, L,jesko Polje,
and other areas.
Po11e in Slavonia
The Jelas Polje, in Slavonia, until recently had been sub,.,ot to fre-
quent flooding by the Sava on the south and vest, by numrrous torrents fray
mount Dilj an the north, and by the Orljava River an the sort. The central
part of the polje, along tho Mrsunja Canal, where rain water cdll*ote;ris:rtot
cultivated.
Two years after the liberation, a lateral canal tc divert streams from
Mount Dilj into the Ologovica Canal bad been finished, a new concrete dam had
been built at the intersection of the ltsunja and the Sava, and work had been
started an the Lobas-Dubooao Canal to drain standing water from the southern
part of the pore. At present, the levee along the Sava is being repaired and
the Mrsunje Canal is being extended, cleaned, and deepened, The reclamation
project is nearing completion.
Rarly in October '1948, ergirssrs, technicians, and surveyors from Zagreb
began to investigate the poseib.litl-a of the area fu, growing rice. 3W the
and of December they had reported that al_ the necessary conditions could be
provided by building irrigation and drainage canals. Water can be obtained
from the Orljava River and drained o:f by the ltrsunja Canal. Brigades of
volunteer laborers began work early in January.
rarrTe.lr?r
CLASSIFICATIONCV
STAT
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The irrigation canal bebins at Luzani and connects with the Orljava
River, The total length of the canal will be 16 kilometers. Whereas 37,500
cubic meters of earth will have to be excavated for the canal, a total of
72,580 cubic meters will be required for the levee. About 35 percent of the
work on the canal has been completed.
The rice-growing area consists of about 500 hectares on either side of
the Stupnik-guti road. A considerable part of the area has already been
plowed.
Of the 3,400 hectares comprising the entire district, rice will be grown
this year on 600 hectares, hemp on 775 hectares, late cabbage on 200 hectares,
kale on 65 hectares, and fodder plants and vegetables on 83 hectares. Various
private uildings, including 8 barns for 800 cows, 4 barns for 240 horses, 2
farrowing pens. 5 large pigsties for little pigs, a dairy, 4 storehouses, 2
toalsheds, 2 machine sheds, 50 houses for 100 families, barracks for seasonal
workers, messes, baths, silos, 20 kilometers of main and secondary roads and
highways, and 20 kilometers of farm railroads will also be built in the dis-
trict.
The plan provides for the production of 210 carloads of rice, 80 oar
loads of cabbage, 550 carloads of hemp, and quarters for 1,300 breeding sows
this year.
Proaecte in Bosnia and Hercegovina
Since the liberation, major reclamation projects have been in progress
in Bosnia and Hercegovina, especially In the north near the Sava and in the
karat polje of Hercegovina. The most important projects in the north are
the Lijevoe Poije, Ivanicko Polje near Bosenski Brod, the vicinity of Novi
Grad, the Central Poeavina, and the Semberija projects.
A 24,000-hectare area in the Lijevee Polje is now being traseformed into
a rich grain-growing district through reclamation. Last year work was done
on levees and other recla.'.tion projects in this polje; the levees were ex-
tended in the Ivanicko Polje; 241,000 cubic meters of levees were built in
the Novi Grad district to protect 5,000 hectares of farm land from floods;
and levees and a 2,700-meter-long drainage canal were built in the 17,200-
hectare district of Central Posavina. The cutting of a second canal, 3,000
meters long, will reclaim 500 hectares of land which has not been under culti-
vation previously. Reclamation works in the Bemberija last year proceeded
slowly because of a labor shortage, but volunteers from the People's front
fulfilled their pledge to build 20,000 cub!': meters of levee.
Smaller reclamation projects were carried oat in the Podraznica Polje
near Bihac, 40 hectares of land were forested in the Pokoj Polje near Bihac,
and part of the Vrbas River was regulated.
In Hercegovina, reclamation will permit new areas to be planted in in-
dustrial and subtropical crops. In the Mcetar Swamp the main drainage canal
will be finished this year. It leads from a tunn l to the lowest part of the
poljo, vhioh has always beau cwampy. The main irrigation canal *rom the source
of the Lietioa River toward the Nester Polje will be continued this year, and
a siphon will be built in this canal. A canal to irrigate the Na-kopolje also
will be finished this year.
Canals to irrigate the satire polje will be built during 1949 in therfrebinj-
sro Pol1e, thus assuring suffioient water for 1,206 hectares. The boring.,of the
Trosina tunnel in the Dabareto Polje and tbe,clearing of the poljs,i which will be
finished this year, will recover 2,480 hectares for cult ivatibn.!''The reclamation of
the Stolac Polje is almost finished. The irrigation canal will be finished this year.
Thu chief reclamation project in Hercegovina this year will take place in the Bijelo
Poije and in the Bisco Poije, north and south of Wostar. About 11,000 hectares of
land will be properly watered as a result of great irrigation projects there. The
irrigation also will help to cool the Nestor district, where the e+tlrt heat has
usually been unbearable,
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STAT
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R
Reclamation of a Macedonian District
The largest reclamation project in Macedonia under the Five-Year Plan
will take place in Pelagonija, where 50,000 hectares of land will be reclaim-
ed. Work began in 1948. By the end of 1949, 60 percent of the work should
be finished.
Some 35,000 hectares of the district are subject to more or lase regular
flooding from the Crna River and its tributaries, while torrents flood another
10,000 hectares. In the aba-nee of floods, Pelagonija could produce crops
worth 1,220,000 diners. After the reclamation projects have been completed,
the annual it-come per family in the district will increase by an average of
70,583 diners.
Reclamation also will improve public health. Child mortality in the
district is high, and about 13 percent of the inhabitants are i1i for an
averaoge of 15-30 days per year from malaria, anthrax, and other diseases
that flourish in swampy country.
The reclamation project calls for cutting a new bad, 9,400 meters long
and an average of 3 meters deep, for the Crna River from the village of
Skociver to the village of Bac. Tributaries will be regulated and several
canals out. A total of 155,270 meters of river bed will be regulated and
70,400 meters of canal will be built. The lover reaches of seven tributaries
will be regulated. Fifty bridges ranging from 10-50 meters will be built.
Some 400 tons of Iron, 4,5,00 tons of cement, 10,000 meters of reinforced
-ionarete, and 20,000 cubic meters of piaster and pavement will be required.
Work will begin soon on cutting a new bed for the Crna River from the
village of Bkooiver to the mouth of the Elaaka River, an regulating torrents,
and on building water gates at the mouth of the Kaska River to collect water
from J8itolj 8wmsip. These are the 'test_ important projecuiw _1:-'~.
A 15-hectare collective far, which will be formed in the district will
assure good and cheap food for the reclamation workers.
Large Projects in )ontenesE o
The Five-Year Plan calls for an increase of 50 percent in the c xltivable
area of Montenegro by the and of 1951, as a result of reclamation works.
In addition to the project of draining Lake Mader, large-scale reclama-
tion works were started this year in the Bje.opavlici i'lain, Ljeskopolje, the
Ljeskopolje Lug (Forest), the Momisici Polje, the Stoj district near 1loinj,
and in Sutorina. These projects will promote the reconstruction of agricul-
ture, the intensive culture of industrial crops and southern fruits, the deval-
opment of the textile and food-prodeesing industries in the Titograd district,
and the development of agricultural cooperatives. Hitherto useless land will
be transformed into fertile and productive fields of cotton, tobecce+. southern
frstits, and vagetebles.
As a result of drought and other unfavorable weather conditions, harvests
have been very poor in this district. Often, not even enough seed for the nee,
planting has been harvested. Reclamation will permit the planting of wheat
and corn in rotation as well as of southern crops and industrial plants.
A total of 22,000 hectares wi).1 be reclaimed for cultivation by the end
of the Five-Year Plan, or 12,500 hectares, not counting the basin of Lake
Skadar. By the and of the live-Year Plan a total of 34,000 hectares of land,
or half the present cultivable area if Montenegro, will have baen reclaimed
shoe the beginning of reclamation.
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An'investment of 190 million dinars for republic and 500 million for
national (i.e., the Lake Skadar project) reclamation projects has been set
aside for 1949. A 42-kilometer-long irrigation net in Ljeskopolje and the
main reclamation projects in the Bjelopavlici Plain have already been started.
During 1949, 4,000 hectares of the Ulcinj Poije, 1,000 hectares of Ljesko-
polje, 2,650 hectares of the Bjelopvalici Plain, and 200 hectares of Sutorina
in fercegovni Srez will be reclaimed, and work will begin on draining 700 hec-
tares of the Ljeskopolje Lug and 1,200 hectares of the DLamisiei Polje. In
Ljeekopolje, which has an area of 2,553 hectares, a main canal was out last
year. Nov the main dam is being built on the Treaanjica River and the irri-
gation net is under construction. The main canal will connect with the
aqueduct above Horaca to permit the irrigation of 200 more hectares in the
Bar Polje, 180 hectares in Parmaci, and 2,500 hectares around the villages
of Dahne, Dajbabe, .otuna, and Zeta as far as Golubovac. The 17-kilometer
Cijevna Canal will connect with the Ljeskopolje Canal to permit the electrification
of the villages and the irrigation of the northern district of the Skadar Basin.
Reclamation works in the Bjelopavlioa Plain and the regulation of the
lower course of the Sutorina River will begin In March. The lower.course
of the river, which was regulated last year, will be forested during 1949.
Dates have been set for deliveries of excavator bulldozers, rotary cutters;
and compressors. A narrow-gauge track will be laid to transport matertalo
to the building grounds.
Smaller Projects in Serbia
The only major reclamation project in Serbia scheduled for 1949 is
the Danube-Tisa-Danube canal system. Unfinished projects will be contin-
ued, water-pumping stations ant levees built, canals out, and repairs made
on objects damaged or destroyed during the var.
Northern iIc.a has already been protected from floods from the Sava
by sans of levees, but 40,000 hectares that are pd'dtected by levees hold
standing water after rains. A pumping station built before the war can
take care of only 10,000 hectares. The remainder, and particularly a com-
plex of 10,000 hectares where the land is lowest, is flooded at every
season of the year and nothing can be grain there. During 1949 a pumping
station capable of diverting 5 cubic asters of water per second into the
Sava will be built on the site of the old dam an the loom Canal. This
will make it possible to plant grain and other cropi. on 14,000 beotarve
of land which previously were the most subject to floods. The repC.r of
the pumping station at Drenovac also will recover 1,600 hectare, -f flooded
land for cultivation.
A section of the levee along the Sava in Maova, between Drenovac and
Xitrovioa, -.ill be bankgd an additional 1.2 meters with earth.
In '.hog Doajomoravako (Lower Morava) district a pumping station to
drain 12,J00 hectares of land will be built. Heretofore, one third of this
area has been left fallow every year because of the great quantity of stand-
ing water an it. mother pumping station to drain 1,500 hec'.area will be
built at Jezava.
A not of drainage canals will be built this year over an area of 600
hectares of the Gradiete Bit. This canals will lead the voter to a pumping
station which will divert it through the levee in:,o the Danube. A pumping
station and drainage canals to be built in the Negotin Bit will restore
1,000 hectares for cultivation, and 1,700 hectares in the Pandevo Rit also
will be reclaimed. A pumping station to be built at Ivanovo in the Banat
will drain 3,000 hectares, and 13,700 hectares near Zrenjanin will be drained
by pulping stations end drainage canals. Drainage canals for 1,500 hectares
will be out in the territory of the Tamis-Pegej Water Administration.
Umm
STAT
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In the Soemet, irrigation canals vhich served 3,000 hectares of land
before they were destroyed during the war viii be repaired this year.
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