Page:CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110021-0.pdf/9

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

forage (11.7%) and industrial crops (7.5%) has increased significantly since the war, largely by diversion of land formerly under grain. Areas of most intensive cultivation generally coincide with the wheat, sugar beet, and corn growing areas, primarily in the southwest quarter of the country (Figure 7).

b. Production and consumption

Agricultural production was just recovering its prewar levels when the regime forcibly completed collectivization in the spring of 1960. The disruptive effects of this policy combined with bad weather to reduce output in 1961 and 1962. In 1963 and, to a lesser extent, in 1964, mediocre harvests and unusually poor crops in the Soviet Union (usually the principal source of East German grain imports) forced East Germany into the world grain market for the first time. In the late 1960's production rose as a result of great increases in inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, etc.) and the introduction of improved grain varieties. In 1970 and 1971, however, serious weather difficulties—a long cold winter in 1970 and drought in 1971—again reduced output. Production of grain was at a near record in 1971, reflecting the superior resistance to pests and drought of the new Soviet wheat types, but a summer drought reduced potato and industrial crop production to levels lower than those of previous years.

Average annual output of grains rose only slightly after the war, but it increased more rapidly in the late 1960's with the introduction of new, improved varieties. Production of sugar beets and oilseeds increased sharply during the 1962-68 period, but since then it has experienced a declining trend. The combination of a labor shortage and high production costs has caused a gradual decline in the area devoted to these crops. Production figures for selected agricultural products are shown in Figure 8.

Livestock is becoming increasingly important in the East German agricultural economy. Animal products account for over half of total gross agricultural output; meat and dairy products output is well above prewar levels. Numbers of cattle and hogs (Figure 9), are above the 1956-60 average. Because of improved feeding efficiency, the reduced number of horses, and large imports of high-protein concentrated feed, production of meat and dairy products has risen more rapidly than animal numbers, reflecting gains in animal productivity. A major problem is the slow growth in beef cattle numbers needed to meet domestic demand for meat.

Although that area that is now East Germany was a net exporter of food (if trade with the rest of Germany is included) before the war, domestic production now supplies only 76% of East German food consumption.

4

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