Der Wandel der Landnutzung in der Region Kaliningrad: (Teil II mit Kartenbeilage)

Abstract

In the province of East Prussia, in the course of its 700 years of settlement history a landuse pattern had developed that was characterized by agriculture. Depending on time and form of settlement, large-scale land-holding developed mainly in the western and central parts of East Prussia whereas in the east and northeast small-scale farming was dominating. Especially in the eastern part of the province the majority of farmers lived in solitary farmsteads in the midst of their land. In accordance with theirs size, agricultural enterprises had different tasks: The large estates produced mainly cereals and beyond that had vast areas of grassland where livestock was raised. Smaller farms specialised in more labour-intensive crops such as root crops and vegetables. This neighbourhood of smaller and larger enterprises ensured a great variety of agricultural produce. The church villages played an important part in the life of the rural population as seats of the district council, supply and service centres and as centres of cultural life. After World War II the German population had to leave East Prussia. The northern part of the province was put under Soviet administration and became part of the RSFSR as "Kaliningradskaya Oblast". This involved a complete resettlement by people from various parts of the Soviet Union, mainly from Russia, White Russia, and the Ukraine. From now on land use changed completely: Sovkhoses and Kolkhoses cultivating 3 000 to 5 000 ha of land on the average and applying industrial methods of production were established. On the basis of mappings made in autumn 1992 and spring 1993 the consequences of large-scale farming for land use were recorded in three model areas. According to that, both in crop and animal farming big farms are run in a very extensive way. Due to a discrepancy between the arable land to be cultivated and the machinery available, the means of production and the level of training of the people working in agriculture, a large part of the fields is not tended and harvested properly. Thus, the high productivity of the soils cannot be fully made use of. The situation in animal farming is similar: lack of fodder for instance, leads to low yields in milk. Because of a one-sided concentration on cereals and fodder the needs of the people living in the Kaliningrad area cannot be satisfied. Thus, self supply of potatoes, vegetables, milk and meat became important in the Country. Furthermore, the mapping results revealed that, beside a strong increase in the share of grassland compared with the pre-war situation, the network of roads and paths thinned out so that solitary farmsteads and outlying estates but sometimes even whole villages were not settled again and remained deserted. The villages today have only residential functions; the majority of administrative and supply functions has been moved to district towns or the regional capital respectively. The agricultural reform started in 1991 goes on slowly. There is a lack of adequate machinery and equipment, seeds, fertilizer, breeding cattle, premises. At present, in the Kaliningrad area private farmers cultivate about 27 000 ha 743 000 ha are cultivated by jointstock companies or cooperatives which have emerged from Kolkhoses and Sovkhoses.