Vol. 73/No. 31      August 17, 2009

Farmers in this region are not likely to get much relief from the deal. “I am glad now we don’t have any cows,” said Arnolds Dzalbs, a farmer in the Auleja village, about 19 miles from the Belorussia border. Preilu Siers dairy pays little for farmers’ milk, he said, and refuses to take any milk for a whole month this summer.

Dzalbs works land that belonged to his family until 1948, when the bureaucratic rulers led by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union ordered forced collectivization in Latvia, which was then a republic in the Soviet Union. Both he and his father then worked on the kolkhoz—the collective farm formed out of land taken from all farmers in the village. After Latvia became independent in 1991, the land was given back to those who had owned it. Dzalbs and his wife now farm 100 hectares (1 hectare=2.5 acres).

They raise pigs. They have 16 sows, and sell the piglets to individuals who raise them for the meat. The farm has three tractors and a big combine for harvesting.

Dzalbs is quite frustrated by the conditions farmers face. “We used to grow sugar beets and Latvia had three sugar factories,” he said. “The last one closed a couple of years ago [after the European Union (EU) introduced sugar quotas]. Then farmers changed what they produced. Now we can’t sell milk. So who knows how long raising pigs will last?”

One of their neighbors, Péteris Dzalbs, sells milk to the dairy but has not been paid for the past four months. He has also started raising pigs.

Next door Andrejs Nikitins and his wife Galina farm 18 hectares, which had belonged to his grandparents before 1948. They have three sows, one cow, two calves, and a couple of hens.

They also grow potatoes, vegetables, and fodder for the animals. They sell piglets like most other farmers here. This reporter accompanied Andrejs and his sister, Vija Nikitina, now a meat packer in Stockholm, Sweden, to buy a new horse for the farm. The horse is used for day-to-day tasks on the farm, but for harvesting they rely on their neighbor’s modern combine harvester.

Zanna Stepina, from Ukraine, grows and sells flowers on 38 hectares, 30 of which had been collectivized from her husband’s family in 1948. At first they grew cabbage, she said. “We grew 25 tons, but could not sell it because of competition from the EU.”

Fewer flowers are being sold and their prices have gone down, said Stepina. “Soon I think we will only sell flowers for the graveyard! The government talks about rationing food again like during the Soviet Union. This is not popular,” she said. “At least as farmers we have food!”

Besides returning land that had been taken away in 1948 to farmers’ families, the government gave out certificates based on how long you have lived in Latvia. The certificates can be used to buy an apartment, land, or may be sold.

Nikitina said she sold hers to a company to buy a dress for her graduation. Others, like Viktor Krasovitsky, have been able to buy 3,000 hectares of land nearby.

Krasovitsky used to own Parex Bank, which was taken over by the Latvian state in November after rumors led to a bank run, emptying one-quarter of its deposits. Krasovitsky is still the richest man in Latvia. He made his fortune when he and his partner were Komsomsol (Communist Party youth) members. Moscow gave them a monopoly to exchange money in 1990 when they started a travel agency. In six months they earned enough money to start the bank.
 
 
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