Old Aged Agricultural Holdings

crOCeSS °£,aging of rural, particularly of agricultural population in Yugo- • * ; g\u27 in Slavonia, East Serbia and within some ethnical groups in other w n i a a nr!Pm S\u27 C* ”biJela kuga<< venia and Croatia ,particularly in Istna, Dalmatia and Lik a( »thwehriet ei sp ae sltoinlegn ctrea«d)i.t iIonn Slolaf8fry° n a° f.oreigIconutries, while in Kosovo and Metohia and mountainous parts ot Macedonia, and Bosnia and Hercegovina there is a deeprooted tradition or seasonal »pečalba« (temporary employment far away from home). „ Uowever, for the process of aging of agricultural population the most decisive l rh• coasetluence? brought about by the industrialization of the country. First of all this has caused the large and mass spatial and socio-professional mobilitv younger generation from the coutryside, then the compulsory 8-year schooling and mass education for other occupations have stimulated the transfer from agriculture to other branches of economy. num . £n tbe! second part, the author — on the basis of the special demographic criteria — has selected 103 communities with 4.500 settlements where demographic Ih?^aH°rS Sf OW-tha- the Process of aging of rural population is in full swing E g the index of aging m many of these communities surpasses 0.5, in the commune Mimcevo it is even 1.2236. In some of these settlements every the third or the life1«? these tillages °f 6°\u27 WhiCh refiects a lot on economic and cultural o,it £“ 7S? thl? T?art ?^aut£?r interprets some results of the interview carried out m 7 2 6 aged households. These results point out the pecularity of the aged agricultural household in the social structure of the rural environment. ., e7i!nkri,S^ ^r,e *be resuits concerned with reasons of an origination of the aged households: 1) in more than 57.0% of the interviewed Luseholds des 3r?nani0S 1 P¥rated,or t liv£ °n jhejr own, 2) in 17.9% there were no descendants A q J o / V descendants had died or were killed during the last world war 4) m 9.6/o descendants were under the maturity age or in schools 5) in 4 2% of tie interviewed households descendants were not able to work Consecluently, this confirms the author’s thesis that the reason for a mass of aged agricultural households are numerous, but the socio-professional a™L pat3al mobility are the most decisive factors of the process of aging of rural particularly of agricultural population. S

The Yugoslav Community and Old Peasants

In this article the author describes the effects of the ageing of Yugoslavia’s peasant population. Yugoslavia\u27s population, especially that in rural districts, is becoming comparatively older. As a result there are an increasing number of villages where one out of three, or even every second inhabitant is over 60 years old. The natural increase in population is lower in rural districts than in towns. This is due to the large number of young people giving up agricultural work and leaving the villages. Yugoslav villages differ greatly in size and in the levels of social organization and urbanization. About one third of the villages are situated in mountain districts. The life of ageing peasants in these villages is becoming increasingly difficult. Their working ability is diminishing, they have to give up land cultivation, they no longer reconstruct or maintain their houses and farm buildings, etc. Social life is also declining in these villages. A certain proportion of young people are not prepared to look after their old parents, while some are unable to do so because of their own inadequate incomes. Changes in the way of life and in the traditional views and values have led to increasing individualism and a conflicting relationship between the generations. The traditional forms of family solidarity are dying out while new ones within society as a whole are not yet adequately developed. It is the old peasants who have become the victims of this transitional situation. (As defined by a peasant: »Before, we had to please our elders; now we have to please the younger generations. When are we going to live?«) The author calls for a speedy inclusion of peasants into the country’s collective system of health insurance and social welfare which covers the other categories of the population

THE COOPERATION IN AGRICULTURE IN SR CROATIA

In Yugoslavia social sector of agriculture cooperates with the individual agricultural producers in a crop production as well as in a cattlebreding. The main forms of such cooperation are: 1) mechanical service in ploughing and harvesting 2) supply of inputs 3) agricultural extension service 4) credit arrangements 5) contract arrangements with guaranteed buy off prices 6) cooperative production. The cooperation is free and voluntary. Its main goals are: gainings in economies of production, increase of production for market and inclusion of individual agricultural producers into social division of labour and planned agricultural production. The author undertook an analysis of the development of cooperation in agriculture in SR Croatia during the period from 1957 to 1963. In 1957 in various forms of cooperation there was only 0,4% of the total arrable individually owned land, while in 1962. that procentage rose to 6,2. In some years during the analysed period there were 2 to 5 times more individual owners in the cooperative crop production than in the cattlebreeding cooperation. Though individual owners through cooperation produce on a more profitable way and with more economies, cooperation has not yet achived a satisfactory level. Higher yields per hectar in cooperation (for wheat up to 0,5 ton and for corn 1,1 tons) than in individual farming, are not sufficient motive for many individual farmers to enter cooperation. Taking into account the fact that the social sector in SR Croatia is rather small (occupies only 12% of the total arrable land), the author considers as necessary to intensify cooperation and to increase the yields in cooperative production. The socio-economic justification of cooperation for society and for individual producers as well, the author sees in realization of following demands: 1) increase of agricultural production up to the maximum by the use of social means of production. 2) distribution of income in cooperation according to the partner’s participation in production and work. 3) realization of the socialistic expanded reproduction. 4) realization of selfmanagement in the form of association of producers. Farmer’s inclination to cooperation with social sector of agriculture and the increase of yields per hectar in cooperative production will depend on realization of above mentioned demands, concludes the author

Some Social Aspects of Land Redistribution

The author discusses the meaning of land redistribution under present conditions of improvement of agricultural production. He stresses, that this measure does not only mean the ordering of land, i. e. grouping of small plots into biger complexes, but rather has a wider social meaning. Land consolidation is frequently accompanied by other undertakings or measures, such as amelioration, building of water canals, construction of roads, reorganization, building of gravitating settlements etc. The largest obstacle for the technical and technological organization of the optimal production in Yugoslavia is the so called »conflict between the tractor and the boundary« — meaning, however, the opposition to the application of science in agriculture, i. e. the conflict between the modern and the traditional in agriculture. The dynamics of modern changes in all spheres of life, as well as in agriculture, requires a constant revalorization of farming with agrarian spaces, due, in the first place, to the limitation of agrarian resources as well as to the fact, that from all existing crises, the crisis of food production is mostly to be felt. Therefore, it is necessary to work upon the so called permanent arrangement of space. The legal provisions regarding the policy of space are clear and very strict; however, these rules are not abided. Due to spontaneous deagrarianization on the one side and bad management of land on the other, there are already at the H moment about 1.50 thousand acres of farming land in Yugoslavia, which no one cultivates! According to the author, land redistribution is the pre-condition for spatial planning. The today’s generations have to behave towards land management with more responsibility, and namely, out of the simple fact, that space is the necesary pre-condition for life and work

Socio-Demographic Changes in the Village and in Agriculture

Autor temelji tekst na analizi vitalnih demografskih podataka o poljoprivrednom i seoskom stanovništvu Jugoslavije (broj stanovnika, natalitet, zagreb, jugoslavija mortalitet, prirodni priraštaj, dobna struktura, stupanj ostarjelosti). Uporište za analizu j interpretaciju podataka nalazi u sociološko-historijskom pristupu fenomenu demografskog razvoja što omogućava da istraži uzroke i posljedice uglavnom nepovoljnih demografskih trendova. Autor smatra da je nužno što prije revitalizirati cjelokupni ruralni prostor i agrarnu proizvodnju, jer će se inače i dalje produbljivati socijalna nesigurnost i raslojavanje seoskog stanovništva. Pledira za znanstveno zasnovanu politiku ruralnog razvoja.The author’s text is based on the analysis of vital demographic data on the agricultural and rural population of Yugoslavia (number of inhabitants, natality, mortality, natural growth in population, age structure, age composition). The source for this analysis and interpretation of data can be found in the sociological-historical approach to the phenomenon of demographic development, which enables the author to examine the causes and consequences of usually unfavourable demographic trends. The author considers that it is necessary to revitalize as soon as possible the total rural area and agrarian production, as otherwise the process of social insecurity and stratification of the rural population will continue. He urges scientifically founded policy for rural development

Part-time Holdings in Yugoslavia

The first chapter deals with an appearance of peasant-workers in the prewar period in Yugoslavia. The author stresses the fact that the conditions for the emergence of this mixed social stratum in Yugoslavia were created relatively late, due mainly to specific historical circumstances (frequent wars), which disrupted or postponed the utilization and application of many technical inventions of the modem civilization. For instance, the steam machine and construction of railway roads started at the end and at the beginning of the second half of the XIX-th century. Before the Second World War the most regions of today Yugoslavia had not developed industrially, so it is quite understandable that the number of peasant-workers in that times were minimal. It is estimated that in Yugoslavia 9.00% of the total number of agricultural holdings were mixed (part-time) in 1938. In the second chapter the author analyses the development of mixed agricultural holdings in the postwar period. Due to rapid changes of the social structure of population under the influence of the developing industries and tertiary activities, the number of mixed agricultural holdings has been growing from year to year. Already in 1960. they amounted up to 34.00% of the total number of agricultural holdings and today it is estimated that approximately 50.00% of the total number employed in nonagricultural sector are coming from agricultural holdings. In the third chapter the author considers some causes of the origination of mixed holdings. He particularly analyses the economic reasons, namely the agrarian overpopulation. Among other reasons he mentions aspirations of agricultural population for better life and higher living standard by the employment in nonagricultural activites, need for money accumulation necessary for the realization of certain specific goals, like migration to other richer regions or a town, schooling of children, payments of state land tax or debts and different individual motives. In the fourth chapter the author pleads for more systematic and scientific research of this mixed stratum; differentiation of various substrata on the basis of certain characteristics which can be taken as real hypotheses that essentially influences their different production and cosumption orientation as well as their different behaviour and attitudes towards other social strata is necessary. In this sense the author exemplifies his thesis, citing the data on different size of holdings and different consumption characteristics of mixed holdings (households). He separately points out the regional and local pecularities of mixed households. Here too, we find an explication of preliminary results of the questionnaire on mixed holdings which was carried out by the Agrarian Institute in Zagreb last year. In the last chapter the author critically reviews several more or less already generally accepted views on peasant-workers (as bad agricultural and nonagricultural workers, as the lowest social stratum, as people with no formal group participation etc.)