AGRARIAN REFORM INCREASES SMALL FARMS AND INCOMES; RECLAMATION EXPANDS AGRICULTURAL ACREAGE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600310379-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 15, 2011
• Sequence Number: 379
• Publication Date: May 22, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

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CLASSIFICATION counmIAL CONFIDENTIAL
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
COUNTRY Yugoslavia
SUBJECT Economic - Agriculture
HOW
PUBLISHED Daily newspapers
WHERE
PUBLISHED Zagreb; Cetinje; Belgrade
DATE
PUBLISHED 26 Feb - 29 Mar 1950
LANGUAGE Serbo-Croatian
Thu DOCUISMT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFSSCTIMS THE NATION 01/1111
OF THE UNITED STATES WITHIN THE MSAMIMS Or O-IOMASS ACT SO
?. S, C. $1110 S1. AS A111OS0. 111 TRMSI11SIOII OA Til RSSSUTIOM
Or In. c0MY_..:7 IM AMT MARMUI TO All UNAUTHORIZED PINSON L TIO?
1111110 ST LAW. SS-ROOUCTIOM Or THIS FORM it PROHIBITED.
CD NO.
DATE OF
GATE DIST. CA9 May 1950
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
AGRARIAN REFORM INCREASES SMALL FARMS AND INCOMES;
RECLAMATION EXPANDS AGRICULTURAL ACREAGE
1949 DATA REVEALS PROGRESS OVER 1948 -- Vjesnik, No 1522, 25 Mar 50
Through the agrarian reform, the peasants of Croatia received 157,700
hectares of land after the liberation. Many farms of less than 2 hectares
were increased from 2 to 10 hectares. Farms of over 35 hectares no longer
exist in Croatia.
The results of the agrarian reform in Croatia can be seen from the fol-
lowj table:
Size of Farms (in ha)
N
o of Farms
193
11948
2 to 5
192,872
258,891
5 to 10
88,772
100,857
10 to 20
23,810
20,826
4,678
1,283
In 1949, the national revenue for Yugoslavia from the population was
24,300,000,000 dinars, or 15.2 percent of the total revenue, while the reve-
nue from the economy amounted to 106,900,000,000 dinars. In 1950, the na-
tional revenue from the population is expected to be 20,100,000,000 dinars
or 11.6 percent of the total revenue, which is 3,200,000,000 dinars less
than in 1949, while the national revenue from the economy is expected to be
129,700,000,000 dinars.
The following table shows the percentage of the total income received
and the percentage of the total taxes paid by the various groups of farm
population in Yugoslavia in 1948:
(!
- 1 - CIIHFIDENTlAL
CLASSIFICATION enNF'TnFnnnrer
ARMY AIR.
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No of Families
Income Tax
47.7
17.3 5.3
36.0
38.7 21.0
10.1
19.7 18.9
6.2
24.3 54.9
In prewar Yugoslavia, a farmer received 1,000 dinars for a 400-kilogram cow.
With that money he was able to buy one plow, 3,300 bricks, 1,443 kilograms of
cement, or 5 meters of cloth. At present for such a cow he receives, according
to tied prices, 6,000 dinars, 3 plows, 5,582 bricks, 4,063 kilograms of cement,
or 11 meters of cloth.
In 1939, in exchange for 100 kilograms of wheat, a farmer received 50.6
kilograms of salt, 21.7 liters of petroleum, 10 kilograms of sugar, 30 packages
of cigarettes, or 220 kilograms of cement. At present, for the same amount of
wheat a farmer receives 137 kilograms of salt, 37.4 liters of petroleum, 12.5
kilograms of sugar, 103 packages of cigarettes, or 280 kilograms of cement.
In exchange for 100 kilograms of corn, a farmer in 1939 could buy 33.6
kilograms of salt, 14.4 liters of petroleum, 9.2 kilograms of axles for wagons,
or 20 packages of cigarettes. At present, for the same amount of corn, he can
buy 94.3 kilograms of salt, 25.7 liters of petroleum, 11.2 kilograms of axles,
or 70 packages of cigarettes.
In exchange for 100 kilograms of peas, a farmer before the war could buy
8.6 square meters of window glass, 29 sickles, or 10 axes. At present, for the
same amount of peas, he can buy 10.8 square meters of glass, 40 sickles, or
12.5 axes.
In 1939, in exchange for one pair of high shoes, a farmer had to give 195
kilograms of wheat or 292 kilograms of corn. At present, according to tied
prices, he has to give only 145 kilograms of wheat or 212 kilograms of corn
for one pair of shoes.
The Yugoslav agricultural machinery industry in 1948 and 1949 produced
the following amounts of machinery:
1948
1949
Horsedrawn plows
26,323
41,632
Horsedrawn cultivators
5,650
9,730
Harrows
10,849
20,924
Seed separators
904
1,310
Threshing machines
539
581
Motor selectors
5
133
Mowers
313
367
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
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During 1948 and 1949, Yugoslav agriculture received 700 incubators, 120,000
tons of artificial fertilizer, 28,000 tons of insecticides and fungicides, and
over 240 million dinars worth of veterinary equipment. By the end of 1951, the
agricultural machinery industry will produce 34 million kilograms of tools and
machines.
In 1949, Yugoslavia had 118 agricultural schools and colleges with 14,000
students. Recently four more agricultural colleges, 44 technical schools, and 36
one-year agricultural schools were opened. By 1951, agriculture will have ac-
quired 3,000 more agronomists, 800 more veterinarians, 4,400 more agricultural
technicians, and 28,000 more semiskilled technicians.
In 1945, the tractors of agricultural machinery stations tilled 230,000
hectares of land in Yugoslavia, and in 1948, 860,000 hectares. In 1948, agri-
cultural machinery stations owned 4,200 tractors. One tractor tilled 211 hectares
of land in 1948, in comparison to 182 hectares in 1947, 138 hectares in 1946,
and 72 hectares in 1945.
In Croatia, 380,000 Jutro of land are flooded every fall. Of this area,
150,000 jutro are swamps. Another million jutro in the Posavina, Podravina,
and Baranja regions are protected from floods from the Sava, Drava, and Danube
rivers, but are not arable because the surface water has not as yet been drained.
Reclamation of 103,000 hectares began in Croatia in 1947. This year 3,666
hectares of new land will be cultivated on Sinjsko Polje. The federal invest-
ments for reclamation in 1950 in all Yugoslavia amount to 1,695,000,000 dinars
or 130 times more than in 1939.
By the end of 1951, the Croatian grain supply from reclaimed areas will be
700,000 quintals.
The federal investments for agriculture in all Yugoslavia were 1,677,000,000
dinars in 1947, 6,933,000,000 dinars in 1948, and 11,095,000,000 dinars in 1949,
and are expected to be 18,045,000,000 dinars in 1950. The cooperative sector
alone is scheduled to receive about 13 billion dinars.
In 1949, Croatian agricultural cooperatives owned 300 machine stations
with 708 farm machines and 1,703 farm tools.
Farm work cooperatives in Croatia, by the middle of 1949, owned 182 tractors
293 threshing machines, 1,626 sowing machines, 11,587 horsedrawn plows, and
numerous small machines.
MONTENEGRO RECLAIMS MORE TERRITORY -- Pobjeda, No 60, 12 Mar 50
With the reclamation of Barsko Polje, Buljaricko Polje, Mrcevsko, and
Saliotsko Polje, a total of 3,250 additional hectares of land will be available
for agriculture in Montenegro. In 1949, 1,000 hectares of land were reclaimed
in Ljeskopolje. Another 2,550 hectares will be reclaimed in Ljeskopolje, in-
cluding 700 hectares in Ljeskopolje forest, 150 hectares in Bersko Polje, and
300 hectares in the Farmak region. After these areas are reclaimed, their pro-
duction of wheat and corn will be increased 150 percent.
In the near future, 6,000 hectares of the Bjelopavlicka Plain land will be
reclaimed. On the Stojsko Polje, 6,500 hectares of reclaimed land are covered
with fruit trees. The levees on the Bojana River protect 26,000 hectares from
floods. In addition to cotton fields, good fish ponds will be established here.
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After the reclamation work is completed, an additional 46,000 hectares of
arable land will be available for cultivation ir. Montenegro. If the present
proportion of crops is maintained after the reclamation is completed, 55,527,500
kilograms of wheat and corn and 9,760,000 kilograms of clover or 8,015,000 ad-
ditional kilograms of grain will be gained over what is now produced from all
the planted areas in Montenegro.
Because climatic conditions permit the graving of various industrial
plants in an area of 34,000 hectares and various tropical fruits in an area of
about 3,000 hectares, the usefulness of the reclaimed areas will be increased
several times. After Skadar Lake is drained, 7,000 hectares of land will be
planted with long-staple cotton. One harvest of cotton alone will bring 132
million dinars.
VOJVODINA PRODUCES 40 PERCENT OF YUGOSLAV GRAIN -- Glas, No 1481, 29 Mar 50
One fifth of all the arable land in Yugoslavia is located in the Vojvodina,
which occupies only 9 percent of all the territory in Yugoslavia. The Vojvodina,
produces roughly 40 percent of all the rain produced in Yugoslavia, or an
average of 1,620 kilograms per capita per year?7.
The Vojvodina has more than 700 large socialized estates which cover over
600,000 hectares of land. Together with state farms, the large socialized es-
tates cover 45 percent of the arable territory in the Vojvodina.
Dr Viktor Najgebauer, chairman of the pedagogical section of the Institute
for Agricultural Research in Novi Sad, said recently that 60,000 jutro of waste
land of the Pannonian desert will be transformed, in the near future, into
fertile vineyards, orchards, cotton fields, and castor bean fields.
The 290-kilometer Danube-Tisa-Danube canal will irrigate 500,000 hectares
of land in the Vojvodina. Experts have estimated that on the irrigated areas
the average yield of wheat will increase from 13.7 to more than 35 metric centners
per hectare, of corn from 23.5 to over 46 metric centners per hectare, and of
sugar beets from 197 to over 412 metric centners per hectare. The average yield
of vegetables will be four times as large as it is at present. The total harvest
of wheat on the irrigated land will be increased by about 11,500 carloads, corn
by over 37,000 carloads, and vegetables by over 30,000 carloads.
SERBIAN AGRICULTURE PROGRESSES -- Glas, No 1454, 26 Feb 50
In a. recent speech, Peter Stambolic, Premier of Serbia, announced that
5,000 workers were employed in 1947 in the exploitation of forests in Serbia,
and that in-1949, 12,000 such workers were employed. The 1947 production of
lumber was valued at 468 million dinars, while the 1949 production was equiva-
lent to 1.013,859,000 dinars. During the last three planning years, 33,000
hectares of land were covered with forests, 81,500 hect:.rcc were reclaimed,
and'263 million trees were planted.
Thus far, 130,000 agricultural families have joined farm labor cooperatives
in Serbia.
CONFIDENTIAL
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