FARMING IN POLAND
By H. D. WALSTON
THE war and its consequences have hit Poland's agriculture very hard. Some of old Poland—but not a very large proportion— was devastated in the actual fighting ; a large area, east of the Curzon Line, is now no longer Polish, while in its place is a tract of land which has contributed nothing to this year's harvest and shows little sign of coming into anything like full production before 1947 at the earliest. On top of this there are the usual wartime shortages of fertilisers and machinery, and the heavy loss of livestock due to lack of fodder and looting soldiers. Finally, there is the post-war decision to split up the large estates into small-holdings ; however valuable this may prove from a political or social point of view, there can be no doubt that it is disastrous in so far as immediate food production is concerned.
Driving along the main roads of a country, particularly in the winter, is never a very satisfactory way of finding out agricultural conditions. However, in a motor trip practically across Poland from West to East I was able to see a good many different types of agriculture, and from talks with travellers, farmers and Govern- ment officials I could fill in roughly the rest of the picture. In the districts where fighting was taking place six or twelve months ago the devastation is complete. There are no livestock, practically no human life, and hardly a house or barn left standing ; and the only crops to he seen are those which should have been harvested in July and August. Here it is the intention of the Government to settle those Poles who are moving from the East, and others return- ing from the Army or concentration camps ; but in the meantime they are starting to plough and prepare the land for sowing by using many of the U.N.R.R.A. tractors, of which over 3,000 have already been supplied. It is hoped that when a settler is given land it will be already ploughed and fit for cropping, otherwise the necessary work will be done for the settler after he has taken possession.
In other parts, particularly to the immediate west and south-west of Warsaw, farms and fields look prosperous. All the crops, inchiding potatoes and sugar beet, have been gathered, rye and wheat are coming up well, and winter work is well forward. Farmers here complain sometimes of lack of labour and always of lack of stock and fertilisers, and in the case of stock the figures bear out such complaints ; but the appearance of these farms is a welcome change from the devastation nearer the Oder. Here, for instance, the number of cows and young stock is less than 5o per cent. of the pre-war figure ; horses and pigs have been reduced by 75 per cent. and sheep by 90 per cent. It is the reduction in horses which is the most serious, as they supply practically the whole of the motive power for all farm operations ; further, they reproduce slowly, and the world-supply position is such that it cannot hope to make good anything approaching the three million animals that are needed to bring Poland up to the pre-war figures. This shortage of horses is further accentuated by the splitting up of the large estates, which were well adapted to large-scale power-farming. The new holdings of 122 acres are incapable of being mechanised to anything like the same extent.
The province of Lublin gives an indication of the result of such splitting up. Out of a total of over 310,00o holdings 66 per cent. are under 12} acres, and only I per cent. are over 37-1- acres. It is hard to find anyone who approves of this reform. Most of the peasants realise that the new holdings are too small—" too large to be buried in, and too small to live on," as one of them said to me ; and they cannot get hold of the necessary stock to farm them ade- quately. Farmers and agricultural scientists, too, can foresee many difficulties. In some cases the new owners continue to farm the old estate as one holding—sometimes, I was told, with the former owner as manager, though this I was unable to confirm. In others the State farms them. But the new owner is at liberty- to sell, the only stipulation being that no one may own more than 125 acres. It is probable, therefore, that within a few years the average size of holding will show a considerable increase. So far as total produc- tion is concerned, figures do not give a very bright picture. Rye acreage has fallen by 20 per cent. and yields by 25 per cent. ; wheat by 25 per cent. and 3o per cent. ; barley by 3o per cent. and 3o per cent. ; oats by 20 per cent. and 20 per cent. ; and potatoes by 15 per cent. and 23 per cent. Before the war the average milk yield was 1,44o litres per cow annually ; it is now about i,000 litres—a total drop of over 6o per cent. when allowance is made for the decrease in milking cows.
It is not surprising, therefore, that Poland is suffering from a food shortage in spite of the fact that before the war she was a food- exporting country. On the other hand the casual visitor would not realise that there was such a shortage. Every other shop seems to be a food-shop, and the food in restaurants is richer, heavier, and more copious than anywhere else in Europe. But the cost puts it out of the range of all but a very few Poles.
In order to understand the Polish rationing system two things must be remembered. In the first place all those engaged in agri- culture, including their families, are expected to raise their own food, and thus receive no ration-cards. Secondly, the rest of the population—about 4o per cent. of the total—is divided into two groups. The smaller of these—about a quarter—consists of all who do not work, or those who work either on their own account or on the free market where wages are uncontrolled. This group, too, receives no ration-cards. The remainder, consisting of all workers in industries where wages are controlled—transport, mining, tex- tiles, Government offices, &c. ; doctors, teachers, students, artists, &c., receive ration-cards for themselves and their families entitling them to a certain amount of food—in theory about 2,000 calories a day, but in practice well below this figure, at controlled prices. The difference between controlled and free wages and prices is enormous. A day-labourer on the free market gets 8,000-1o,000 zlotys a month, while a tram-driver (a Government employee) gets 1,800 zlotys a month. The controlled price for wheat is 37 zl. a quintal, but free it may reach 2,000 zl. Milk is 1 zl. per litre controlled, or 15 zl. free. Beef 1 zl. or 200 zl. per kg. Every farm, according to its size, is given a quota that it must deliver at the
controlled price. On the average this is about 25 per cent. of the total estimated production—more for large farms and less for small. With the surplus the farmer can do as he likes—keep it for himself or sell it on the free market. For those who get no ration-cards but who cannot afford free-market prices—invalids, old people. orphans, &c.—there are communal feeding-centres, and cards issued by the Ministry of Social Welfare.
Whatever the nutritional picture may be now, the malnutrition of the past six years has had a marked effect on the health of the
nation. This has been accentuated by the shortage of doctors—
only 6,000 now in place of the 13,000 of 1939—and the shortage of hospitals and materials, which is now being made good by U.N.R.R.A. The two chief scourges are venereal diseases and tuber- culosis ; I was told that a recent survey among schoolchildren and students showed a 3o per cent. incidence of active pulmonary tuberculosis. There is also typhoid and dysentery, a certain amount of diphtheria, and always the risk of typhus, though the authorities
are confident that this can be kept in check with D.D.T. But more important than any medicine or injection is adequate housing, and above all good food, especially fats. Vitamin pills are to a certain extent making good this deficiency, but there is still a long way to go. There will be no great improvement in this, or in infant mortality (which at present stands at the appalling figure of 4o per cent. for all children under one month), until large imports of milk and butter or margarine can be made, or until Polish livestock approaches once more its pre-war levels. It is towards these ends that Allied relief and Polish agricultural policy at home must be directed.
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