unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (09/19/89)
Polish Agricultural System Grossly Inadequate
Posting Date: 09/18/89 Source: UNITEX Network, Hoboken, NJ, USA
Host: (201) 795-0733 ISSN: 1043-7932
Bert Quint Poland
CBS Evening News
Thursday September 14, 1989
Today, President Bush said the US will double its food aid to
Poland over the next year, pledging an additional $50 million of
surplus meat, grain, and butter. Bush said it is to help the
Polish people get through a hard winter, and help the Polish
government save the food economy that has been wrecked under
Communist rule. One reason Poland's butcher shops are just about
empty is that farmers are holding out for better prices. Some
farmers sell food privately for a price few Poles can afford.
When asked why Poland, a country that is fertile with good
animals, is having a shortage of food, a farmer says state
inefficiency and corruption has ruined Polish agriculture. For 4
decades, the Communists have built up unprofitable heavy industry
while neglecting the farms. The little agricultural machinery
manufactured goes to the big state farms, even though they
produce much less than the tiny private ones. 3 of every 4
private farmers don't have a tractor. That is why the young
have abandoned the countryside and the country isn't fed
properly. Solidarity Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki says
it's up to the farmers to save Poland. First, Solidarity must
save the farmers by ripping apart the Communist system and
putting in one that works.
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