Agrarian reforms in Eastern Europe : Introduction

Abstract

This article introduces a special feature on reforms in East European agriculture. Subsequent papers cover current developments in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Poland. This introduction highlights the common feature of reform in the three countries (the change from a socialist planned economy to a market economy) but lays stress on the different circumstances under which the reforms are taking place. Czechoslovakia has a large-scale farm sector and a relatively well developed infrastructure; Bulgaria also has large-scale farms but a poor infrastructure; and in Poland over one million small farms exist within a socialist economic system.