Estimation of the beekeeping industry during the Great Patriotic War on the example of the Bolsheuchinsky village soviet of the Udmurt ASSR

Abstract

Based on archival documents Of the Central state archive of the UR, the analysis of the state of beekeeping in the Udmurt ASSR was carried out on the example of Bolsheuchisnky village Council – one of the largest and steadily developing village councils. It was determined that flax and buckwheat were sown as one of the main honey crops. Cannabis crops also occupied a small area. Statistical archive data on the area of legume crops sown on farms of Bolsheuchinsky agricultural district showed that during the second world war there was a 3.8-fold decrease in sown areas. There is a deterioration in the agronomic level, which has affected the level of agricultural production. In a number of collective farms were low yields, increased infestation of fields, there were large losses during harvesting. The reduction of crops was also due to natural and climatic complications. In 1942, the maximum amount of honey (1.4% of the collected amount) was allocated under the expenditure item "to the homeland defense Fund". In the years of the second world war, the item of expenditure on production needs averaged 15%, with the exception of 1944 – 0.2%. Throughout the second world war, honey was distributed to the Fund for assistance to the needy (disabled people and children). creches). During the war period, with an almost stable number of bee colonies in the studied farms, the amount of honey obtained during the studied years was unstable. The minimum peak of honey collection was in 1944 – 181.37 kg due to the cold summer (the average monthly temperature of the summer months was 15-16°C). Probably, this stage of development of beekeeping during the second world war was a kind of test for the strength of both the system of labor organization in the apiary and the professionalism of beekeepers who passed all the tests with "excellent".