14 



Mr. Penny. Could we ask of Dr. Serova a discussion or an expla- 

 nation of any recent steps that are underway to improve the situa- 

 tion for private farmers? We're particularly interested in any legis- 

 lation to promote land reform £ind private ownership, as well as 

 any legislation to support the establishment of agricultural co- 

 operatives. 



Ms. Serova [through translator]. The way things are set up in 

 Klin, the area in the Moscow region that they're in, is that farmers 

 are allowed to buy outright 30 hectares of land for private use. 

 They can rent, at this time, 20 additional hectares, which, in total, 

 forms 50 hectares of land, and they have the right to buy out these 

 last rented 20 hectares. So that's the way the situation is now in 

 that area. 



Mr. Penny. As I understand it, the land is not transferrable by 

 these farmers to other individuals, and you can't really borrow 

 against the value of the land. Am I correct in that assumption? 



Ms. Serova. As far as the first question about transferring, there 

 may be some laws being discussed in the halls of congress, but we 

 don't know an5^hing about them. They have not gotten to us yet. 

 As far as taking out a mortgage on the land, private banks will do 

 that. 



Mr. Penny. I want to allow an opportunity for Congressman Al- 

 lard to ask some questions at this point, and then I'll probably ask 

 a couple more before we conclude. 



Mr. Allard. Thank you very much. I appreciate this opportunity 

 to be able to ask you some questions about the Russian farmer. 

 How do you get your products to market? 



Mr. Zamaratskii. In our cars. 



Mr. Allard. How far away are your markets, and how long does 

 it take you to get your products there? 



Mr. Zamaratskil It's 10 kilometers, 20 minutes to get to market. 



Mr. Allard. In asking for help, in what areas do you need the 

 most technical assistance? 



Mr. Zamaratskil In the area of processing of the farm goods. 

 Processing equipment. 



Mr. Allard. Did I understand you correctly? Farm equipment? 



Mr. Zamaratskil Processing equipment. 



Mr. Allard. Could you use American farm equipment? 



Mr. Zamaratskil Small-scale processing equipment for getting 

 the meat, milk, eggs ready for market. Equipment to make coats 

 out of skins and stuff like that. It's a small farm. 



Mr. Allard. Thank you. I have another question. I'm curious 

 about the land situation in Russia. Russia is a large country. How 

 much of that is owned by private ownership? 



Mr. Penny. Did we lose him? Is he still there? 



The Translator. The last thing he said was, "I don't know about 

 the whole country. I don't have the facts and figures about that. 

 But in our small area where we're located, we have 70 private 

 farms, each about 10 hectares in area." 



Mr. Allard. How many total acres in that area? You indicate 

 that there are 70 farms that are privately owned, each 10 acres. 

 You have about 700 acres in private ownership. 



The Translator. Hectares. 



