Content №4 от 2019
Farming Households in Siberian Villages: Transformation Problems
The article discusses the transformations of personal subsidiary farms belonging to Russia’s rural population over the time that has passed since market reforms started. We refer to the data collected during the two National Agricultural Censuses to run a critical analysis and identify any changes in the range of business activity, production output, and specialization of farming households in different regions of Siberia over the period between 2006 and 2016. To study individual local cases, we use in-depth interviews given by local chiefs and specialists of rural administrations, working on family farms in Tomsk, Tyumen, and Novosibirsk Oblasts.
We compare the results of quantitative statistical analysis with the conclusions of qualitative sociological local case studies, both to identify long-term trends and to account for possible distortions of information originating from institutional sources. As a basic hypothesis, we believe that the transformations of private subsidiary farms in different regions do not follow any single trend and that they are greatly influenced by the state and local governments’ agrarian policies, as well as certain specific local factors. The author’s observations confirm this hypothesis.
In nearly 25 years since market reforms started, the rural household economy sector has undergone radical changes. On the one hand, it has noticeably lost in scale and given up its former leading position in the structure of production. On the other hand, it has diversified and is now represented by a broad spectrum: from a small family garden to a miniature farm with hired staff. However, in certain cases, government support can deteriorate farming households’ economic situation. Qualitative findings presented in this study may be useful to justify measures aimed at ensuring the sustainable development of rural areas.
