Socio-economic differentiation in the post-communist rural Baltics: the case of threekolkhozes

Rural Livelihood Diversification: A Solution for Poverty in the Post‐Soviet Rural Baltic States?

“…The level of human and social capital in the rural areas is a very relevant topic for the present‐day development. As the previous study from our areas have shown, former kolkhoz workers with higher education and better professional experience from the Soviet times were able to sustain larger family farms or more successful businesses and were generally ‘the winners’ in the post‐Soviet transformation (Žakevičiūtė ). Therefore, in order to raise the much‐needed knowledge and skills, the life‐long learning possibilities and professional training of the rural population is of a particular importance.…”

“…Rural families with low monetary income can rely on their farm to ensure food security of the household, while selling the agricultural surplus to the state or through alternative food markets could guarantee an additional income (Blumberg ). Since farming is not economically necessary for the better‐off households (Žakevičiūtė ), it could be assumed that they are maintaining agricultural practices for completely different reasons. Therefore, a second factor could be a ‘continuational orientation’ (Lauristin et al ) prominent in the Baltic states, which idealises small‐scale farming (Alanen ; Žakevičiūtė ).…”

“…Since farming is not economically necessary for the better‐off households (Žakevičiūtė ), it could be assumed that they are maintaining agricultural practices for completely different reasons. Therefore, a second factor could be a ‘continuational orientation’ (Lauristin et al ) prominent in the Baltic states, which idealises small‐scale farming (Alanen ; Žakevičiūtė ). Moreover, ecological reasons cannot be denied.…”

“…The majority of the researched households following a farm‐based diversification strategy cannot even be considered as ‘small or average‐scale farmers’ (Žakevičiūtė ) in the social structure of the Baltic countryside. Moreover, around 25% of the registered small or average farms in Estonia do not produce anything or have any on‐farm activities (European Commission ).…”

“…Throughout the Soviet era, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania had very similar development patterns and were among the high‐achievers in the USSR (Alanen ; Lerman et al ). Rapid, heavily idealised transitional reforms without clear, consistent or long‐term rural policies in the early 1990s, severely damaged rural areas, which negatively affected the Baltic rural economy, undermined rural livelihoods and created a new socio‐economic structure (Alanen ; Žakevičiūtė ). Although certain differences in the post‐Soviet development can be clearly seen at the micro level (Aidukaitė ), the Baltic states display the ‘same periods or phases of development, albeit with differences in timing’ (Lauristin et al , p. 129).…”