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grain production last year at below-market costs. Agricultural subsidies 

 totalled some 12% of GDP in 1992. The Government announced in 1993 a series 

 of measures, including shifting from direct subsidies to indirect price 

 supports by the end of 1993, to assist the agricultural sector. Yet, the 

 government also announced new subsidies for this sector that could add 160 

 billion rubles to the Russian budget in 1993. It also announced a 3% tax on 

 agricultural enterprises to pay for the subsidies. Agricultural reform is 

 further hampered in Russia by the emotionally charged debate over land tenure. 



Nevertheless, significant strides have been made in Russia even in the 

 face of strong opposition, including the following: 



The Russian Government has taken action to reform the organization of 

 agricultural production, by forcing state and collective farms to re-register 

 under a new ownership system. By 1992, 77 percent of state and collective 

 farms were re-registered; by February 1993 the figure was 90 percent. 

 Two-thirds were converted to some form of corporate ownership or were broken 

 up into private farms. By year's end, 184,000 private individual farms 

 existed, occupying 7.8 million hectares, about three times the number of early 

 1992. 



