|
Albania
Livestock and Pasturelands
A botched campaign to collectivize livestock in the late 1970s
and early 1980s led to a wholesale slaughter and chronic production
shortfalls. When meat and dairy product shortages in the larger
towns grew critical, Albania's communists retraced their steps.
The regime gave animal husbandry a high priority in the Eighth
Five-Year Plan (1986-90). In July 1990, the government decided
to allow collective-farm members to raise cattle on their private
plots and instructed the administrators of collective farms to
transfer a portion of their stock animals to members. The government
also recommended that collective farms in mountainous areas grant
members 0.2 hectares of land each, in addition to their private
plots, in order to increase livestock production. In mid-1991,
shortages of feed severely hampered livestock production and forced
farmers to allocate much of their land to cultivation of forage
and feed corn. The animals raised on this diet were deficient
in protein and generally of poor quality. Despite the ban on food
exports, herdsmen were reportedly smuggling about 1,000 head of
calves, cows, sheep, and other livestock across the Greek and
Yugoslav borders each day because they lacked fodder and sought
to take advantage of high prices on foreign markets. An additional
challenge to Albanian stockmen was a serious shortage of artificial-insemination
and other veterinary services.
Albania's 409,528 hectares of pastureland remained state-owned
despite the land reform, and in the chaos of 1991 the government
set to work on a new law to reassert state control of pasturelands
and give managers new guidelines. The Ministry of Agriculture's
eighteen pasture enterprises managed grazing lands at the district
level and charged customers, including private herdsmen and farmers,
a seasonal fee. Price liberalization did not boost grazing fees
even though the enterprises were operating at a loss in 1991.
Ministry officials estimated that grazing fees could have to increase
fourfold before the pasture enterprises could break even. Western
economists projected that pressure on Albania's pasturelands would
increase as livestock herds grew and as expanding communities
sought land for residential and recreational purposes.
Data as of April 1992
|
