257 



The egalirarian nature of rural-rural relations is seen by the fact that all peasant farms in 

 1992 were eligible to receive compensation for fuel, machinery, and feitilizer, iirespective 

 of how efficiently those resources were used. Thus, blanket subsidies were intended to 

 cover even inefficient farms. Moreover, the subsidies offered by (he state for animal 

 husbandry products were differendated by region paying northern regions more per ton 

 than southern regions for those products that were delivered to the slate. In essence, this 

 system was a continuation of the old Soviet zonal pndng scheme that paid inefficient farms 

 more per unit out output in order to cover higher production costs. 

 The Rvie of a New Rural Elite? 



Is a new rural elite emerging? It is very difficult to say with any degree of certainty. 

 There is only scant statistical data. There is, however, suggestive evidence that former 

 members of the nomenklatura and farm directors have obtained the best lands and have 

 used their connections to get machinery and fertilizers that are denied to ordinaiy farmers.^ 

 In Kostroma Oblast, for example, there is evidence of rural differentiation. On average, 

 there was less than one tractor par farm in the summer of 1992. While the largest farms, 

 those over 200 hectares, comprised just 3 percent of the number of fanns, they hod 27 

 percent of the tractors among peasant farms in Kostroma Oblast. Data from Kostroma 

 Oblast also show thai the number of persons employed on larger farms is higher, almost 17 

 persons per farm for farms above 200 hectares, and six persons per farm fw farms 

 between 100-200 hectares, while for the oblast as a whole the average farm has just three 

 persons.'* 



To say there is a new rural elite is quite different than saying there is evidence of 

 ongoing differentiation among rural groups. There are two sets of factors at work 

 precluding the rise of a rural dite, at least in the shori-iemi. First, there are institutional 



15 See for example, Kenneth Gray "The ProccM of Russian Land Privaliralion in 1991 and 1992.' EOUDfit 

 U.SSR Apriculnirft and Tmde. Report . RS-92-1 (Washington, DC: USDA. May 1992). p. 17. 



16 KrcsL'vaiiskivc kho;^vavstv « Kosiromskov ohln?rti na 1 Ivulva 1992 eoda. pp. 7-8. 



