APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070030-5
increase 29% between 1960 and 1970, while the output of milk and eggs went up by 17% and 23%, respectively. Meat exports, most of which go to Western countries, increased rather rapidly in the first half of the decade (to about 220,000 tons in 1965), but dropped to 172,000 tons by 1971. Efforts to better satisfy domestic demand for meat required not only a cut back in exports but also large imports of pork in 1970-71 by the Gierek regime, with the result that in 1971 Poland was a net importer of meat. Incentives offered to livestock producers and improved feed supplies level and sharply lowered import requirements.
Poland's most important meat exports are bacon and canned ham. Most of the bacon is sent to the United Kingdom, and most of the canned ham is sold in the United States. Exports of fresh beef to Western Europe are also large. In addition to meat, Poland exports sizable quantities of butter and eggs, although exports of both have dropped since the mid-1960's as West European production caught up with demand.
The increase in livestock production has required Poland to import large quantities of feedgrains (including wheat) and oilcake. Grain imports, which amounted to about 1 million tons a year until 1956, rose rapidly after that year and averaged 2.7 million tons a year during 1961-65. Grain imports were subsequently cut back in support of the plan of becoming self-sufficient in grain; they totaled about 2.2 million tons per year during 1966-70. The plan was doomed to failure, however, as livestock production stagnated and Poland had to import 2.5 million tons of grain in 1970. Gierek's planners eliminated self-sufficiency in grain production as a goal in the 1971-75 plan, and 2.9 million tons were imported in 1971.
During 1955-66, over two-thirds of the grain imports came from the West; close to one-third of the total came from the United States alone. Since 1966, the USSR has supplied an increasing share of the grain imports, while the US share has dwindled, due mainly to the cutoff of PL 480 credits in 1964. During 1957-64, the United States supplied $538 million in credits on favorable terms, enabling Poland to import grains to build up its livestock production and boost exports of meat and dairy products. The profitability of meat exports has declined in recent years not only because low-cost PL 480 credits dried up, but also because an expanding domestic market for animal products has reduced the share of output available for export to Western Europe. In view of recent Soviet grain production difficulties, Poland, in 1972, purchased a larger share of its grain from the United States and other Western countries. This can be expected to continue in the short run.
Polish agriculture is characterized by small, privately-owned farms, rather than by the large collective typical of other Communist countries. About 83% of Poland's agricultural land is in private hands, 15% in state farms, and less than 2% in cooperative (collective) farms. The private sector embraces over 3 million farms with an average area of 5.4 hectares of land each (Figure 8). Between 1949 and 1956 Poland tries to get peasants to join collectives, subjecting private farms to heavy taxation and discrimination in the allocation of industrial materials and equipment, but the collectivization effort was not pushed as hard as in other Communist countries, and by 1956 collective farms included less than 10% of all the agricultural land. In June of that year, collectivization as a goal was dropped, and existing collectives were allowed to disband. Although the number of collectives has fluctuated since then, the dissolution of collectives has generally kept pace with the formation of new ones. The collectives, which now comprise less than 2% of the agricultural land, generally include holdings that were too small and too poor to be farmed as individual units. Agricultural circles — economic organizations of private farmers organized mostly for mechanization purposes, and akin to some West European cooperatives — have been encouraged among farmers. Private ownership of land remains inviolate, however, and there has been no pressure to convert those organizations into collectives. Figures 9 and 10 show the threshing of grain on a private farm and a private farm market in Poland.
Socialized agriculture in Poland is represented chiefly by the state farms, which are operated much like state enterprises in other sectors. State farms hold 15.1% of the agricultural land. They were formed for the most part after World War II on abandoned
| Size of Farm (Hectares) | 1960 Number (1,000) | 1960 Percent of total | 1970 Number (1,000) | 1970 Percent of total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1-0.49 | 347.7 | 9.7% | 376.8 | 11.1% |
| 0.5-1.99 | 829.9 | 23.1% | 756.9 | 22.3% |
| 2.0-9.99 | 2,029.6 | 56.5% | 1,891.2 | 55.6% |
| 10 and over | 384.7 | 10.7% | 373.2 | 11.0% |
| Total | 3,591.9 | 100.0% | 3,398.1 | 100.0% |
6
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070030-5
