World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sust. Development, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2013
Karakul sheep production in Kazakhstan: an efficient collective enterprise under the state farm (sovkhoz) system and its collapse with the break-up of the Soviet Union A. Allan Degen Desert Animal Adaptations and Husbandry, Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract: Prior to the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, Karakul sheep in Kazakhstan were raised mainly on large collective state farms, sovkhozes. Farmers had to meet quotas on lamb and pelt numbers and received wages, while state farms provided veterinary and breeding services, animal feed and marketing. With the break-up of the Soviet Union, land ownership, farm facilities, animals and payment of state farm employees were transferred to Kazakhstan. The Kazakhi government could not support such a system and encouraged privatisation by dissolving state farms in 1993. Government budget support and subsidies were discontinued and there was a lack of an adequate banking system to provide credit to farmers. As a result, farmers were forced to sell and barter livestock, mainly sheep, for labour costs, pensions, supplies and farm maintenance needs. Today, smallholder farms produce about 90% of the livestock; however, many homesteads exist at subsistence levels due to mainly poor marketing and capital constraints. Keywords: Kazakhstan; sovkholz; market economy; state farm; Karakul sheep. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Degen, A.A. (2013) ‘Karakul sheep production in Kazakhstan: an efficient collective enterprise under the state farm (sovkhoz) system and its collapse with the break-up of the Soviet Union’, World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp.1–9. Biographical notes: A. Allan Degen is a Professor at Desert Animal Adaptations and Husbandry, Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel. He does research on the use of livestock production in livelihood strategies of indigenous populations under both rural and urban conditions.
Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
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Introduction
Large tracts of land in the Central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgystan are desert and semi-desert. Approximately 60% of this land is suitable for grazing, making range based livestock production important to the national economy of these countries as well as to the livelihood of a large portion of the rural population (Kerven, 1995; Kaliev, 1999; Brent, 2001). In Kazakhstan, from a total area of 274 million hectares, 166 hectares are classified as desert and semi-desert rangeland of which 112 million hectares are particularly favourable for raising Karakul sheep (Degen et al., 2002). The low annual rainfall and low winter and high summer ambient temperatures support sparse stands of grasses, ephemerals, ephemeroids, shrubs and some trees. Low winter temperatures suppress the growth of the herbaceous species until the spring months when they achieve their maximum growth. Some of the shrub-like species shed their leaves in the summer, but all rejuvenate in late summer and autumn with the onset of rainfall (Abdraimov, 1987, 1988). Extremes of rainfall and ambient temperatures, characteristic of Kazakhstan’s deserts and semi-deserts, cause frequent shortages in forage availability (Kaliev, 1999). In the absence of supplementary feeding and adequate animal shelters, severe sheep losses can occur, particularly during the winter but also in other seasons (Esenova and Dobson, 2000). Until the 20th century, Kazakhs were largely nomadic pastoralists and engaged very little in settled agriculture (Robinson et al., 2003). They raised mainly sheep and, to a lesser extent, goats since these small ruminants were easy to maintain and were a source of food, clothing and tent material (felt). Horses were important for transportation and for milk; however, in southern and central Kazakhstan, Bactrian camels were used for these purposes. Kazakhi lifestyle was regulated by their established patterns of seasonal migrations with their livestock between summer and winter camp sites (Kerven et al., 2006). They were basically immobile during winter, when the animals grazed in snow covered lowlands near a water source and were supplemented with limited amounts of stored feed. Once the snow melted and new grass emerged, they began the spring migration to summer pastures in the highlands which they eventually reached in May–June and where they would remain until August–September. During the Soviet period, a unique and efficient collective system was employed by Kazakhi state farms (sovkhozes) for Karakul sheep production and is the subject of this report. This collective enterprise collapsed with the break-up of the Soviet Union.
1.1 State farms (sovkhozes) from 1961 to 1991 State farms (sovkhozes) were created following the Khruschev agricultural reforms that began approximately from 1961 in the Soviet Union to improve the efficiency of agricultural production by lowering the costs of production and increasing output. Under these reforms, many, but not all of the existing smaller collective farms (kolkhozes) in neighboring areas, were merged into sovkhozes. Ownership of land, farm facilities, equipment, animals and the maintenance and running costs of these means of production became the responsibility of the Soviet Union instead of the cooperatives. In particular, cooperative members became salaried state employees. However, the reforms also allowed the utilisation of private plots by collective farmers, workers and employees.
Karakul sheep production in Kazakhstan
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Administration was centralised in Moscow under agencies responsible for procurement and production. These agencies used local regional inspectors, each of whom was assigned to up to seven state farms, to participate in planning farm production, check on the implementation of plans, and report cases of plan violations. They could stop loans and cash advances to farms failing to meet their obligations (Shimkin, 1963; Volin, 1963). To increase livestock production, 155 specialised sheep raising state farms were established in the semi-desert regions in which each farm had 50,000–60,000 sheep (Asanov and Alimaev, 1990). With the intensification of sheep husbandry, feed for the animals was produced by increased irrigated fodder production. Veterinary care was centralised, with at least one veterinarian and several animal technicians at each sovkhoz. Via regional and local veterinary committees, the state provided all vaccines and treatments (Lundervold et al., 2004). With these implementations, seasonal migration to pastures was curtailed greatly (Kerven et al., 2003). Migrations were usually of short distance between 10 and 120 kilometres within the territory of the sovkhoz and were not required each season. In some instances, long distance movements, often of several hundred kilometres from the sovkhoz to pastures on state reserve lands in other districts (raions) or even other republics, were practiced (Robinson and Milner-Gulland, 2003). In 1990, there were approximately 2,118 sovkhozes in Kazakhstan, each consisting of town size populations, with inhabitants living in houses on small plots of land of up to half a hectare. In addition to the sovkhozes, there were about 430 smaller kolkhozes (Brent, 2001). In semi-arid to arid Kazakhstan, the sovkhozes were situated strategically near paved roads, electricity and communications networks and more important to water resources that enabled part of the land to be irrigated for specialised crops. In southern Kazakhstan, sovkhozes were reliant to a large extent on Karakul sheep production, used irrigation primarily to produce fodder crops for the maintenance of animals during the winter months and secondarily to produce cash crops such as wheat, potatoes and cotton in that order of priority. Affiliated irrigation farms practiced specialised agriculture in that they grew only one type of fodder or cash crop. Sovkhozes were also responsible for supplying supplementary feeds (hay and grains) that were fed mainly during the winter months of December through February when no grazing was possible due to sub-zero temperatures and snow. Alfalfa hay and grains were supplied in bulk in November according to the number of sheep. In addition, the state farms were responsible for the delivery of all agricultural products according to a strict quota system to a state run agency usually located in a provincial city with a railway station connected to the southern Kazakhstan railway system. Meeting production quotas was a pre-requisite for procurement of supplies and finance from the Soviet Union (in essence from Russia) such as mechanised equipment, seeds, fertiliser and cash payments for employees. The Soviet Union, under control from Moscow, had final responsibility for the marketing of produce both within the Soviet Union and for export outside the Soviet Union.
1.2 Karakul sheep Karakul sheep are an ancient fat-tailed breed developed by nomads in the Bukhara desert region of Uzbekistan from where it spread to other regions of Central Asia. The breed is named after a village called Karakul which lies in the valley of the Amu Darja River in the former emirate of Bukhara, West Turkestan. Archeological evidence of this breed as
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early as 1,400 B.C. was reported and distinct Karakul type sheep carvings have been found on ancient Babylonian temples (Young, 1914; Voinarevich et al., 1980). These sheep are well-adapted to harsh environmental conditions being able to withstand extreme hot and cold conditions. Ewes range in mature liveweight between 40 and 50 kg and males range between 60 and 80 kg. Rams are horned but ewes are polled. Karakul sheep were valued and selectively bred for colour and fur like quality of newly born lambs. The pelts have tightly curled wool with elegant patterns. These wool curls have a silky and bright like quality that is valued for hat and garments (Yao et al., 1953; Schoeman, 1998). The first kolkhoz for Karakul breeding was established in southern Kazakhstan in 1928 and by 1939 other breeding collectives were established and organised into Karakul sheep breeding organisations (Trusts). Karakul rams were mated initially with the local fat-tailed ewes (Kurzdjchnich breed) being raised by the semi-nomads in southern Kazakhstan. Only later, post revolution, developments would see the introduction of pure bred Karakuls from Uzebekhstan into southern Kazakhstan; by 1974, 1,991,000 Karakul ewes and 69,000 rams had been introduced from Uzebekhstan and Turkmenistan. By 1980 there were more than 5 million Karakul sheep in Kazakhstan with 129 sovkhozes and 23 kolkhozes specialising in their production. About 30 farms produced gray pelts, 19 produced golden-brown pelts, 80 produced black pelts and the rest produced mixed colours pelts (Voinarevich et al., 1980).
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Methods
With the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, all sovkhozes in Kazakhstan were officially privatised from April 1997. To understand the collective farm system of Karakul sheep production within sovkhozes, on-site surveys were carried out at Buchtulan from 1992 to 2000. Buchtulan (43°50’ N, 68°25’E; Kyzl-Orda oblast) is situated 170 km northwest from Chimkent and 3 km from the Syr Darya River. It is arid and one of the hottest regions of Kazakhstan. Agriculture is possible only with the water from the Syr Darya River. Mean annual rainfall is approximately 200 mm which falls between October and April. Air temperatures can be as low as –25°C in the winter and as high as 45°C in the summer. We interviewed household members who specialised in raising Karakul sheep in Buchtulan, which although privatised, still used the collective system. Our data was both qualitative and quantitative and included in depth-and open-ended interviews, participant observation, and socio-economic questionnaires. In addition, we had discussions with officials of the Kazakh Ministry of Statistics in Alma Ata each season and in 1997, with the Deputy Minister of Agriculture.
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Results and discussion
From 1980 to 1990 there was a tremendous expansion of Karakul sheep numbers in Kazakhstan by the introduction of modern sheep breeding techniques, veterinary care and over-winter shelters. To provide the feed needed for this increase in numbers there was a concomitant effort to increase the productivity of natural steppe with improved management, well construction and more important, the irrigation of huge sown areas for
Karakul sheep production in Kazakhstan
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the production of grains, hay and silage. In Kazakhstan, Karakul sheep numbers peaked at approximately 5.5 million by 1990 (Table 1), 32 million hectares were under irrigation and 23 million ha of steppe pasture had been officially classified as improved pasture. Table 1
Number of Karakul sheep (in thousands) in Kazakhstan sovkhozes (1990–1995) Number of sovkhozes
Region
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
Alma-Ata
2
9.0
10.2
14.3
13.7
28.8
18.8
Artherian
22
1,377.3
871.2
646.2
788.9
750.6
544.3
Kazilarda
33
1,342.2
1,340.2
1,321.1
1,264.6
1,185.6
755.1
W. Kazakhstan
10
272.9
245.2
23.8
224.6
197.0
157.7
Mongastan
15
?
501.0
478.8
443.3
460.2
305.1
Toledikurgan
5
?
?
10.3
9.4
14.3
10.0
S. Kazakhstan
42
1,697.1
1,708.4
1,551.1
1,526.4
1,646.1
1,234.3
Jambool
30
867.6
904.1
896.6
871.1
917.0
543.3
Total
162
5,566.1
5,590.5
5,357.2
5,142.0
5,199.6
3,588.6
Source: Figures are from Statistics in Kazakhstan (1996)
Karakul sheep farms were specialised. There were farms which carried only ewes of one age class whose functions were to raise ewes for lamb pelts, ewe's wool, replacement ewe lambs and lambs for meat, each one under a quota system, until the ewes were cast for age. Ewe lambs and lambs for meat were each transferred six months after birth to specialist farms whose function was to raise these lambs. In addition, there were farms which specialised in the raising of superior rams for artificial insemination (and/or natural breeding), and vasectomised rams for detecting estrus. Initially, the state farms provided each Karakul farmer in southern Kazakhstan with approximately 200 one and a half year old maiden ewes per adult worker to each farm. In Buchtulan, average family size raising Karakul ewes was 7.9 people and included 3.5 workers (Table 2). In addition, the farmers were provided with close to 70 tonnes of hay and 1 tonne of grains for animal feed and up to 10,000 ha of natural pasture (Table 2). The farmer and shepherds were credited with a salary on the basis of approximately 0.16 US dollars per ewe per month. In effect, these credited salaries were used by the farm employees to obtain food supplies and other essentials from stores at the state farm and were eventually paid the balance at the end of the agricultural year. In return, each farm was expected to meet production quotas of one lamb per ewe. The ewes were bred in October-November over five years using artificial insemination. Semen was collected from high quality rams raised on specialist farms. Estrus was detected by using vasectomised rams a day before technicians from the sovkhoz were due to arrive with semen from superior rams. This process was repeated after an interval of 17 days after which time the vasectomised rams were replaced by breeding rams for a further period of up to three weeks. In Buchtulan, average number of breeding ewes was 672, which produced about 679 lambs yearly. Of these lambs, 221 were used for pelts, 213 females were raised as replacement ewes and 245 lambs were raised for meat (Table 2). The replacement lambs were transferred six months after birth to a specialist ewe raising farm. Each year, for five years, lambs for pelts were collected within three days after birth and transported to
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the sovkhoz town centre where the lambs were slaughtered, skinned and the pelts preserved for future processing at sovkhoz factories in large cities such as at Chimkent (population 500,000). In the sixth year, the seven year old ewes were treated with hormones to both synchronise estrus and to induce super ovulation prior to being artificially inseminated. After approximately 135 days of the 150 days of pregnancy, the ewes were slaughtered. The fetuses were removed and skinned for their pelts which were considered to be of the highest quality for the manufacturing of Karakul wool garments. The ewe carcasses were sold for meat at city markets. Such farms had their flocks renewed in August with one and half year old (hoggett) ewes which were bred, as described above in October. Table 2
Data collected in 1995–1997 on eight Karakul sheep farms that raised ewes at Buchtulan under the state farm (sovkhoz) system Farm number 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Mean
Family data Family size
8
7
7
6
9
15
6
5
7.9
Family workers
3
4
4
4
3
4
3
3
3.5
543
760
725
721
670
820
540
595
672
Sheep data Number ewes Age of ewes (years)
6
4
5
1
3
4
5
4
4.0
Ewe death rate (%/yr)
3.3
0.9
3.3
1.0
3.0
0.2
3.0
2.5
2.2
Hectare land/ewe
13.0
12.0
13.0
12.0
20.0
11.0
10.2
14.4
13.5
Wool/ewe (kg)
2.0
2.2
1.95
1.9
1.8
2.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
Live lambs/100 ewes
90
109
110
80
100
110
100
106
100.6
Female lambs kept
244
292
135
180
200
260
150
245
213
Lambs for meat
244
292
135
180
180
412
270
245
245
Lambs for pelts
0
244
528
217
290
230
120
140
221
Private ewe holding
80
200
100
100
100
100
50
100
104
Sheep consumed/yr
25
26
26
26
20
36
24
36
27.4
No. horses
4
6
4
5
5
6
3
10
5.4
No. cows
3
5
5
4
2
6
2
10
4.6
No. fowl
5
4
4
5
5
3
10
0
4.5
No. donkeys
2
1
1
3
2
3
1
0
1.6
Hay (tonnes/yr)
60
70
60
60
70
100
60
60
67.5
Grains (tonnes/yr)
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1.0
Private sheep
Other animals
Supplements
The time period from approximately February to August, when there were no grazing animals present, was used to allow the pastures to rejuvenate by reseeding and allowing the soil surface to be covered with field cured natural hay species that enabled good feed availability for the new flock and a good breeding season.
Karakul sheep production in Kazakhstan
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This production and credit supply system necessitated the sheep farm households to have some sort of food and cash for self-sufficiency. Thus, most farms had privately owned flocks of up to 100 sheep, one or two cows, some horses and some poultry that were used as a safety measure to meet production quotas, to supply meat and milk for home consumption and for private sale (Table 2).
3.1 Break-up of Soviet Union, privatisation and demise of Karakul raising system Kazakhstan was a major agricultural producer during the Soviet period accounting for approximately 30% of the gross domestic product (GDP). In the 1980s, Kazakhstan contributed above 7% of the total Soviet agricultural production, including about 13% of the grain yield (Gaisina, 2011). With the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, ownership of land, farm facilities, equipment, animals and responsibility for the payment of sovkhoz employees were transferred to the new state of Kazakhstan, completely independent of any obligations to or from Russia. This development meant that the Kazakhstan government became responsible for procurement, production and maintenance of the state farms as well as marketing of all agricultural produce. It also meant the creation of new currency independent of the Russian currency and the need for financial assistance to meet foreign currency payments from such international agencies as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the funding agencies of the European Union. The tenge was adopted as the official new currency of Kazakhstan in 1993. However, the Kazakhi government did not have the means to support such a new system (Baydildina et al., 2000) and encouraged privatisation by dissolving state farms in 1993. Government budget support and subsidies were discontinued. These privatisation developments resulted in profound changes in the way agriculture was managed. First, both state farm and private farm managers found that due to the absence of stable banking systems, they could not be provided with credit facilities to overcome their lack of working capital (Gaisina, 2011). Farm managers were thus forced to sell or barter animals for labour costs, pensions, essential supplies and farm maintenance and many of the sheep were eaten. Second, the republics of the ex-Soviet Union, the main customers for Karakul products, because of their own foreign currency difficulties were no longer able to finance the import of these goods from Kazakhstan. Third, in the absence of the previous marketing system, and lack of farm manager marketing expertise, marketing became dependent on the slow rise of independent middle men who could purchase agricultural products at the farm level and sell them profitably to potential buyers. This, inevitably, led to middle men buying at low prices from desperate farm managers who often sold their products in exchange for other supplies needed for their farm operations. As a result, sheep numbers fell drastically from 36.7 million in 1990 to 9.5 million in 1998 and Karakul sheep declined from 5.6 in 1990 to 3.6 in 1995. As a consequence of these privatisation developments, the demand for Karakul products fell drastically and with it the number of Karakul sheep being raised for pelts. According to the Deputy Minister of Agriculture in Alma-Ata, the reduction of livestock numbers from 1993 onwards was due to a continued shortage of hay supplements that was mainly provided by the sovkhoz and by the disposal of livestock by small holders to pay or barter for essential commodities caused by the lack of credit and/or money from government controlled banks. He informed us that the government
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priority for animal production was to concentrate on foreign-currency earning products and, thus their policy was to encourage and increase the number of mutton sheep breeds to produce fat lambs for export to Arabic countries and also to increase the production of fine wool from suitable wool breeds. With the decline in the demand for Karakul products, Karakul sheep would have low priority. However, he acknowledged that to achieve export quality lamb and wool, it would be essential to improve rangeland pasture both in quantity and quality. The large Karakul flocks and the collective method employed in raising the sheep under the efficient sovkhoz system were eliminated. Most of the sheep being raised today are no longer from the Karakul breed but from the Kazakh Mutton breed, Idelbaev, that produce a better quality meat. The sheep are sold weighing 40 to 45 kg and up to 2.5 years of age, usually in Chimkent and Tashkent (in Uzbekistan). Sheep numbers have stabilised with the smallholder subsistence farmers producing sheep on a much smaller scale but accounting for most of the production (Kobayashi et al., 2007; Promfret, 2007). However, appropriate marketing channels linking smallholders to food processors need to be established. Most rural producers with small herds are not served by such networks and, consequently are compelled to produce for home consumption or sale on local informal markets where prices remain low and unstable.
Acknowledgements I thank the late Roger Benjamin (Wyler Department of Dryland Agriculture, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel), Seifulla Abdraimov (Kazakh Institute of Karakul Sheep Breeding, Chimkent, Kazakhstan) and Toleuali Sarbasov (Kazakh Institute for Sheep Breeding, Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan) for helpful discussions and the residents of Buchtulan for their kind hospitality. The research was funded by the US-Israel Cooperative Development Research Program, Office of the Science Advisor, US Agency for International Development (AID), under Grant Numbers TA-MOU-CA-13-051 and TA-MOU-CA-13-061.
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