Soviet crop disaster averted by rain

Press, 12 July 1984, Page 22

Soviet crop disaster averted by rain

NZPA-Reuter Moscow The Soviet Union, helped by steady rain in one of its vital grain-growing areas, appears to have averted a crop disaster but will still buy at least 30 million tonnes of grain this year, according to Western experts. The United States Department of Agriculture has predicted a 1984 Soviet crop of 190 million tonnes. One Western expert said the climatic improvement in the fertile northern Caucasus meant this figure would not have to be revised downwards and the crop would be comparable with last year, when the Soviet Union had its best harvest since 1978. Nonetheless, most agricultural attaches in Moscow say this year’s harvest will fall far below the official estimate of 240 million tonnes because Moscow has made little headway in overcoming fundamental weaknesses in its farm system. The problems that put the official target out of reach included poor seed preparation, unreliable machinery, shortages of fertilisers, and inefficient farm, management.

A report in the agricul-

tural daily “Selskaya Zhizn” (Rural Life) newspaper has given the first favourable account of conditions in the north Caucasus after a drought there that further threatened the crop. The region regularly produces the highest Soviet grain yields and Western experts said it would have faced a disastrous harvest if the dry spell had continued much longer. The newspaper said there had been steady rain and cool weather in the Kuban region that had been followed by hot, dry condi-

tions. The crop was thriving now and the harvest of winter grains had already started in some areas. The Kuban region is part of a wide grain belt stretching to the southern Volga. Experts said it was likely that the whole region had benefited from the change of weather. They said that the improvement sharply brightend the prospects for this year’s Soviet harvest, which might otherwise have been one of the worst in recent years.