Russian Agriculture During Putin's First Term and Beyond

Abstract

An American specialist on Russian agriculture surveys developments during Putin's first term in office, as well as the challenges that loom for the future. The focus is on how economic growth more broadly, and agrarian reform policy more specifically, have led to increasing agricultural output and improved financial stability of farms, with emphasis on the large-farm sector (former state and collective farms). Among the at least partially successful stabilization measures described in some detail are development of reliable sources of farm credit, debt restructuring and cancellation, greater fulfillment of state budget obligations, state intervention in grain markets, and trade protectionism. The paper also assesses the agenda for increasing Russian agriculture's global competitiveness in Putin's second term. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F13, O18, Q10. 3 tables, 61 references. . The author thanks anonymous reviewers for remarks that improved the clarity of this paper.2 During the first seven years of post-Soviet agrarian reform (1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999), the number of beef cattle declined by 46 percent and the number of pigs decreased by 48 percent. To put those declines in perspective, during the first six years of Stalin's collectivization (1928)(1929)(1930)(1931)(1932)(1933)(1934), the number of cattle decreased by 40 percent and the number of pigs by 33 percent (Nove, 1982). As a result of declines in contemporary livestock holdings, livestock herds at the end of 1999 were smaller than those in the late 1950s (Sel'skoye khozyaystvo v Rossii, 2000, pp. 66-67).

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Cost of a Policy: Social Trust and Health Insurance Uptake in Azerbaijan and Emerging Markets

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