ire
farm output specified in the counterplans at prices officially revised
on January 1, 1973. The price system includes bonuses for quality; these
bonuses are payable only after a specified portion of the contracted
quantity has been delivered and vary in relation to the total volume of
product delivered. The intent of the bonuses is to stimulate product
improvement without encouraging production beyond the planned limits.
Excess production would destroy the balance of the plan.

Provisions of the marketing contracts were worked out by the Ministry of
Agriculture and the State Arbitration Commission with the agreement of
the government departments involved. Provisions concerning the
performance of contractual obligations were strengthened compared with
those previously in force. They established financial incentives and
sanctions not only for the contracting organizations but also for their
top managers as individuals, based upon the end results of their joint
work.

Each food-processing trust engaged in the procurement of farm products
must establish a fund for the promotion of their production, for
improving farming methods, and for modernizing the farm's physical
facilities. The funds are to be used in the first place for stimulating
the output of products required on the domestic market and for export.
The allocation of promotional funds is to be in accord with a program
worked out jointly by the trust and the agroindustrial complex; the
program constitutes an integral part of the procurement contract.

Farms, individual farmers, and private agricultural producers may sell
some of their products at retail directly to consumers in cooperative
markets at prices not exceeding those charged by state retail stores. In
some instances and for some products sale on a commission basis through
state and cooperative outlets is also allowed. The sale of meat, meat
products, and alcoholic beverages in cooperative markets is prohibited
as is also the sale of any product through middlemen. Cooperative
markets are subordinated to the trade organs of municipal authorities.
Violations of applicable regulations are subject to penalties the
severity of which depends upon the nature of the offenses. Information
on the total volume of direct sales by agricultural producers is not
available. The share of collective farms in cooperative market sales,
however, declined from 53 percent in 1959 to 16 percent in 1970.

PRODUCTION

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