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programs which should be continued and probably expanded. 



It is not clear, however, that enough emphasis is placed 

 on bringing those who really shape decisions on 

 restructuring NIS agriculture. 



Today only a small fraction of the important decisions 

 are being made by national presidents, ministries and 

 parliaments. As noted earlier, both chaos and policy 

 have delegated much to the local level. 



Young students trained in the U.S. will only influence 

 events in the distant future. With some notable 

 exceptions, private farmers are not opinion makers in the 

 NIS. It is fine to bring such people to the U.S., but 

 this is not where the action is. 



Today, most of the critical structural decisions are 

 being made or strongly influenced by chairmen and senior 

 staff of the state and collective farms. Local or 

 district "ministers" of agriculture are also important. 



These are the people who have been told to "privatize" 

 their agriculture (or soon will be) . They recognize that 

 change is imperative. They are uncertain as to what that 

 change should be. They are usually skeptical of the 



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