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 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110021-0

Procurement prices for many commodities have been raised, and price differentials for quality have also been introduced.

In the 1960's the regime also introduced programs to improve management and resource use and abandoned obviously impossible plan goals. Since 1963 the collectives have been able to purchase equipment previously available only through the Machine Tractor Stations. These changes have not overcome the results of forced collectivization, which are reflected in the high cost of increasing agricultural output, but it has permitted a decline in the farm labor force, and productivity per unit of land remains the highest in Eastern Europe.

Although agriculture still occupies a low position in the regime's priorities, the East German leadership has apparently accepted the fact that inputs into agriculture must be improved either quantitatively or qualitatively if production is to increase. Industrial inputs available to agriculture have increased steadily since the early postwar period and are well above comparable levels in other Eastern European Communist countries. East Germany has by far the highest input of mineral fertilizers per hectare of agricultural land in Eastern Europe (246 kilograms, nutrient content). Supplies of farm machines—such as tractors, harvesters, and combines—are also relatively high, but poor maintenance and unavailability of many spare parts have in many cases prevented their full utilization. Investment in agriculture has also increased, but not sufficiently to support the large-scale farming that the regime favors. The share of agriculture in total investment rose from 13.3% in 1965 to 15.5% in 1968. Since then investments in industry have absorbed larger amounts of investment funds, and the share of agriculture has again fallen—to 13.0% in 1971.

The agricultural labor force has continued to decline at a rate faster than the labor force as a whole, largely due to competition from relatively high-paying

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110021-0