Paul
Goble
Staunton, August 12 – As if its destruction
of foodstuffs at the border were not enough, the Russian government appears
ready to introduce harsh restrictions on the number of cattle farmers can keep
privately, something that would reduce the food supply significantly because “almost
half of all [food] products in [Russia] are produced on private plots.”
On the “Kavkazskaya politika” portal
today, Anton Chablin asks whether this idea, one that recalls some of the steps
the Soviet government took in the past, “threatens Russia with a famine?” His answer is not unequivocal, but it is disturbing
and explains why the move has sparked so much opposition (kavpolit.com/articles/grozit_li_rossii_golodomor-19049/).
Nominally in order to improve the
collection of taxes – farmers don’t pay them on the products of private plots
even if they sell to others – and veterinary supervision, Prime Minsiter Dmitry
Medvedev has directed three ministers to come up with a plan by September 23 to
restrict the number of livestock farmers can keep on their private plots.
Medvedev acted after repeated
pressure from Stavropol Governor Vladimir Vladimirov who has pointed out that
such restrictions will improve tax collection, guarantee veterinary
supervision, and end the violations of public order when these farmers shift
their herds through and to public lands.
Following much criticism of this
idea in the media, Vice Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich promised that the
government would not pursue a forcible reduction in the size of such herds. But
any reduction at all, even over time, could have serious consequences for the food
supply of Russians.
Chablin points out that in Stavropol
kray, herds on private plots produce “75 percent of the kray’s milk and
potatoes, more than 50 percent of its eggs and fruits, and more than 30 percent
of its meat.” “And those are only the official
figures,” he notes. The real ones are undoubtedly larger.
The consequences for Russia as a whole if
restrictions the size Vladimirov has proposed are thus staggering. He wants
private farmers to be able to maintain only five head of cattle and 20 sheep.
Reducing such herds to that level would have a serious impact on the diets of
Russians all across the country.
If Moscow wants to shift the farmers
out of the “gray” zone they are in as far as taxes are concerned, some analysts
say that what the Stavropol head has proposed – fines on those who violate the
limits – does not go far enough. Dmitry Abzadov, head of the Center for
Strategic Communications, says the government should issue patents to private
plot owners.
Others are pointedly asking why
those who want to get involved in agricultural production are seeking to form private
plots and not official farms. Vyacheslav Yakushev, a specialist on agriculture,
says that what is necessary to change the balance is “to create conditions for
the development of farming.”
Moscow must “create conditions in
the tax and credit sphere and then introduce requirements according to the form
of property and not in any case do this in the reverse order. Otherwise we will
destroy the production of goods, and people will run from the villages,” making
the situation even worse.
Chablin concludes: “Villagers
remember Soviet collectivization when super-high taxes were imposed on personal
farms.” Consequently, if tomorrow they feel threatened by the introduction of
limits on personal plots, “there will simply remain no one to feed the country.”
Others have reached even harsher conclusions.
Nikolay Kharitonov, a communist
deputy in the Duma, says that there is no need for Moscow to take any new
steps. Governors, like Vladimirov, have
the resources now to ensure that veterinary services are provided and that
people don’t put their flocks in the wrong place. “Governor,” he says, “be good enough to
impose order!” Don’t destroy the food chain to do so.
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