• · f' · Approved For R J r Q_ -1 · - r' • - • I I - - 'l CLP C 0 - I _ - - TS • ' C • · -- 11 March 1954 SOVIET DECREE INDICTS AGRICULTURAL FAILURES AND ATTACKS LAGGING GRAIN PRODUCTION I Major points in the 2 March Land Reclamation decree of the Soviet Party Central Committee A The initial results of Soviet agricultural program begun last August are sharply criticized B In attacking inadequate grain production for the first time the decree reverses the earlier position of Malenkov and Khrushchev who last autumn expressed satisfaction with Soviet grain production and treated it as the only sector of Soviet agriculture which was above criticism II The decree specifies the following failures of the general agricultural program A Livestock breeding is lagging supplies of fodder are even below those of 1952 and herds are now lower than in 1940 Approved For Release 2002 06 1 b c15fi8po1rn 8000200050012-7 - iA a ' 25X1 Approved For Release 2oo ROl 890A000200050012-7 B Inadequate production of agricultural machinery in 1953 has caused shortages of mechanized equipment for agriculture c The State Planning Commission headed by Deputy Minister Saburov which had formerly escaped the rising barrage of criticism of economic ministries was singled out for censure for misguiding agricultural production III The decree further notes failures in grain production Ao Grain yields are deficient and grain acreages because of mismanagement have fallen below the 1940 level B Grain production has failed to keep pace either with the requirements of the expanding population or with growing export needs IV Grain failures are reflected in the shifting Soviet trade pattern A Grain exports traditionally the most dependable 4dn f 6lo B 1¼ t -- Soviet foreign exchan e Approved For Release 2002 06 11_ llllllll'l_r-w 1 - - · the ' -- ft Approved For Release 2002 06ff1 c oP79R00890A000200050012-7 past year but are counted upon to play a major role in the projected expansion of Soviet trade with the West B For example the value of Soviet 1953 grain exports to the United Kingdom its largest Western customer fell to roughly $10 000 000 from the 1952 total of approximately $100 000 ooo The USSR has substituted gold for wheat in its export pattern with the UK c Similar but smaller declines have been noted in Soviet • grain exports to other Western countries v Remedies proposed by the decree A In the next two years more than 30 000 000 acres of marginal land in Kazakstan and in the Urals-Volga region are to be put into production B The government plans to dispatch this year 100 000 new workers to the lands to be reclaimed in addition to technicians who are to be diverted from established Machine Tractor Stations and from industry Approved For Release 2002 06 11 CIA- D 7 oo ar 012-7 4 c Despite these measures unfavorable soil and climate conditions in the areas to be reclaimed limit the prospects of success vr Implications A The candid revelations of the new decree provide further indications that Soviet agricultural progress is falling far short of Soviet expectations and threatens the success of the entire consumer goods program B The new emphasis on grain prod uction reflects Soviet difficulty in supplying sufficient alternative exports to finance a large-scale increase in imports c This decreets criticism of the State Planning Commission may reflect on its chairman Saburov thought to be a protege of Malenkov However the scope of the criticism also includes Party responsibility for agricultural failures Approved For Release 2002 06 11 ci'Aio 2o 05P012-7 L