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70-year history of collectivization and state management toi overcome. And in the 



current environment, policy signals from Moscow are ambiguous. 



Mr. Chairman, we are now at a moment when the Ui.S. must examine its role in 

 the economic reform of Russian agriculture. From my perspective, if economic reform 

 of agriculture is a high priority goal, then U.S. assistance will have to be carefully 

 managed to support the reform-minded institutions and aimed at the critical constraints 

 on reform. Many of our opportunities to provide appropriate assistance will come with 

 local organizations, including many of the emerging farmer cooperatives. In any case, 

 we probably should not expect humanitarian aid to accomplish reform goals. But there 

 is a collective expertise and experience growing among the PVO groups and 

 government agencies which are on-the-ground in Russia now which should be tapped 

 to improve our assistance. One idea which seems feasible to me is a multi-party (i.e., 

 U.S. government, PVO, and Russian government) temporary commission which could 

 help evaluate projects which address critical needs for private farmers. 



As U.S. and other aid activity increases, a compelling need is emerging for 

 some coordination among aid programs in agriculture. For example, there are several 

 international organization becoming involved in farmer extension education. My 

 communications with them indicate some of them are not sharing information nor feel 

 inclined to cooperate in joint efforts. Similarly, I've encountered several different 

 organizations working on agricultural credit but at different levels and with different 



