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U.S. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO NIS AGRICULTURE 



by 

 Cooper Evans 



It is indeed a pleasure to appear before this subcommittee today. 

 I am grateful for the opportunity to offer a few observations on 

 the changes taking place — and those not taking place — in 

 agriculture in the NIS. 



Some 60 years ago the Soviets began the process of collectivizing 

 their agriculture. It can be argued that this was the largest 

 agricultural experiment in the history of mankind. After 60 years 

 it is clear that the experiment was not only a failure but a 

 disaster. 



Now, the NIS has embarked on what is probably the second largest 

 agricultural experiment — searching for ways to decollectivize and 

 move toward a market-oriented agriculture. 



This will be difficult. The realities are quite grim, in the sense 

 that change is occurring only slowly. Major reasons include the 

 following: 



* Excess People 



Perhaps the most serious problem is what to do with all 

 the excess people who live on the farms. The U.S. is 

 substantially larger than Russia in terms of population. 

 But in the U.S. only about 5 million people reside on 

 farms while in Russia the number is something like 35 



