In the current reorganization of agriculture there is no intention to eliminate the time-honored institution of private subsidiary farm plots held by collective farm members, state farm and industrial workers, artisans, and other individuals. In the 1965-70 period private plots constituted only 10 percent of the farmland, yet in 1968 they accounted for 22 percent of the crop output and 33 percent of the livestock output. In 1970 the proportions of livestock products contributed by the private plots were: milk, 23 percent; meat and wool, 31 percent; eggs, 50 percent; honey, 70 percent; and silk, 89 percent.

Despite the support of private farm plots by the leadership, many local officials consider them to be incompatible with the socialist system and place various obstacles, often illegal, in the way of their operation. In the directives for the Sixth Five-Year Plan the party reaffirmed the importance of private farm plots as a reserve for the increase of farm output and particularly of livestock production. In a subsequently published decree, which lifted restrictions on livestock rearing on private plots, the party and government again stressed that private plots will be an important source of products for their owners and for sale to the state.

The growing importance of private plots for collective farmers was disclosed by income data published in the spring of 1973. In the 1960-70 period the average annual income of permanently employed collective farmers from private plots increased from 251 leva to 620 leva, while the average remuneration for work performed on the collective property rose from 458 leva to 847 leva. Whereas the growth of income from collective farm work amounted to 85 percent, income from private plots advanced by 147 percent.

PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT

Agricultural planning has been highly centralized by the decree effective January 1, 1973. The system of planning has been made to conform to the system used for other sectors of the economy, with some allowances for the specific conditions of agricultural organization and production. Planning is to encompass long-range (ten to fifteen-years), five-year, and annual plans that must be coordinated with a general plan for regional development.

Planning in agriculture is to be based on the balancing of inputs and outputs and the use of government-determined long-range norms, limits, and indexes. Wide use is to be made of econometric models in the search for optimal solutions. The norms, limits, and indexes are to be elaborated in direct relation to the natural and economic conditions of individual agroindustrial complexes, crop varieties, kinds and breeds of livestock, farm technology, and the availability of physical resources and manpower. The norms, limits, and indexes are to be of such a nature as to contribute to a continuous upgrading of agricultural efficiency, that is, they will become increasingly more demanding as time progresses. They are binding for planners and managers at all levels from the central government authorities down to the farm.

In essence the agricultural plan consists of state-imposed production targets and estimates of resources to be allocated for their attainment, together with detailed directives for the use of the resources and for the introduction of technological improvements. Responsibility for fulfilling the planned tasks rests upon the management of the agroindustrial complexes. The planned targets and conditions for their attainment are formulated for each individual complex by the State Planning Committee together with the Ministry of Agriculture and the local district people's council; all plans are approved by the Council of Ministers.

Ten groups of norms, limits, and indexes enter into the formulation of plan targets. They specify progressive technical measures to be introduced; the physical volume of each crop and livestock product to be sold to the state; the volume of capital investment and its specific uses; consumption norms for all materials, parts, and products in accordance with a list approved by the Council of Ministers; allowable expenditures for each 100 leva of farm products and for labor remuneration per 100 leva of total income; norms for the formation of various operating and reserve funds and for material incentives; and limits for the development of social amenities within the agroindustrial complex.

The five-year plan tasks are broken down by years and may be changed only in exceptional cases. The required changes may be made by the Ministry of Agriculture, with the approval of the State Planning Committee, upon request made by the executive committee of the district people's council. Whenever a specific change is introduced, all necessary corrections must be made to maintain the overall balance of the plan.

The agroindustrial complexes must distribute the planned tasks handed to them from above among their constituent units in accordance with standards and conditions spelled out by the Ministry of Agriculture. The district people's councils are required to take an active part in the process of coordinating the plan and in measures for its attainment among the units of the agroindustrial complex. On the basis of the state plan each agroindustrial complex and its constituent parts must prepare what has been called a counterplan, that is, a plan that sets higher goals than those officially established.