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The Key Features

1) Peasants were encouraged - a) Peasants were paid more for grain
- b) taxes on peasants were reduced
- c) the amount of grain requisitioned was reduced therefore more was left for peasants to sell.

THEREFORE GREATER CHANCE FOR PEASANTS TO MAKE A PROFIT

2) Increase Efficiency - a) Machine tractor stations were disbanded and the tractors were sold to state farms this gave peasants a greater incentive to produce more grain.
- b) Khrushchev created large collective farms.

3) Virgin Land Scheme - in 1st 3 years 36 million hectares of new land brought under cultivation and government provided over 100,000 tractors

Success - 1949 - 53 - agricultural output was 80 million tonnes between 1954 and 1958 it had risen to 110 million tonnes

Things go wrong!

1) Critics of Khrushchev complained that too much investment in agriculture and not enough in other areas such as defence.
2) Less investment led to less machinery and therefore less efficiency.
3) To maintain improvements Khrushchev tried to experiment with other grains such as maize. However areas like Kazakhstan had unsuitable soil. There were not enough fertilizers and crops were sown too early which led to weed infestation.

Result = 1963 - had to import 20 million tonnes of grain from USA and Australia

USSR 1929-91 Home