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those reform organizations that are fostering the transition right 

 now to a market-oriented agriculture. 



Many of the Russians are getting impatient with the dehvery of 

 technical assistance. They want it linked to more tangible forms of 

 assistance. And that idea, that frustration, needs to be addressed 

 through the kinds of aid programs that we have on line and the 

 kinds of creative efforts that we can come up with. 



I believe there is a collective expertise developing among Ameri- 

 cans and Westerners who are working in Russia, and we can use 

 this expertise and experience to carefully target aid that will sup- 

 port reform institutions. I believe that we can identify ways to help 

 these reform agencies and these dedicated individuals. And I think 

 that unless we do so the farmer movement will be retarded and 

 blundered. 



I am happy to have responded to your invitation and will be 

 pleased to answer any of your questions. 



[The prepared statement of Mr. Infanger appears at the conclu- 

 sion of the hearing.] 



Mr. Penny. I appreciate your being here this morning. And I 

 think, after two mornings of hearings, we are beginning to sense 

 and share the frustration you must feel as you try to deal with this 

 on a firsthand basis. 



It was mentioned this morning that, at the regional level, agri- 

 cultural reforms in some instances are leapfrogging well ahead of 

 the country as a whole. What are the factors that play in those 

 areas where the reforms seem to be moving forward? What are the 

 key elements that you see that make that possible? And how is it 

 possible when at the local level they still are inhibited by the ab- 

 sence of land reform and other overarching policy changes? 



Mr. Infanger. Mr. Chairman, I don't think many of us appre- 

 ciate what is developing there in terms of this federation govern- 

 ment, this loose-knit connection between the independent Republics 

 and other forms of organization they have outside of Moscow. The 

 connection between the units of the federated government, makes 

 it very difficult for me to understand how the regional departments 

 of agriculture relate to the Ministry of Agriculture in this new envi- 

 ronment. It is quite clear that they have independent agendas. 



So, in some instances, you can explain some of the differences in 

 the amount of privatization. Like in Nizhny Novgorod, you can ex- 

 plain a good part of the privatization there because this oblast has 

 a very progressive young reform-minded Governor appointed by 

 Yeltsin who has sponsored the sale of trucks and the privatization 

 of shops. 



And I just returned last week from their latest effort, an attempt 

 to completely reorganize six state and collective farms up there. 

 And the Governor just may pull this off with the assistance of the 

 International Finance Corporation, IFC. 



I don't know how to explain the differential in the privatization 

 of agriculture in different oblasts, but it is there, and we ought to 

 capitalize on it. And we ought to be working with oblasts where the 

 private farmer movement has a good base and is exerting influence 

 on the administration. Those are regional organizations we can 

 work with. We can bypass the Moscow bureaucracy that is inhibit- 

 ing change and move directly to working with them. 



