Agricultural recovery in the former Soviet Union: an overview of 15 years of land reform and farm restructuring

Using long time series of basic agricultural statistics in 12 countries of the former Soviet Union, this article explores the changes in resource use, agricultural production and productivity during the transition. While the share of labour employed in agriculture has increased in all the countries analysed, the share of agriculture in GDP has declined, pointing to generally decreasing productivity of agriculture relative to manufacturing and other sectors of the economy. The precipitous transition decline that began in 1991 with the break-up of the Soviet system gave way to definite recovery starting around 1998. Agricultural growth and performance are shown to be positively linked with individualisation of farming in transition countries and with various measures of policy reform. Countries that have achieved greater progress in the implementation of agricultural reform record better agricultural performance.