Governmental Authorities of Kalmykia in the Soviet and Post-Soviet Experiment on Cotton Production Development (an Effort of Historical and Comparative Analysis)

Abstract

The article identifies the main concepts of Russia’s cotton policy during the Soviet and post-Soviet periods and provides a comparative analysis of implementation of cotton production development programs in one of the peripheral regions - Kalmykia. The first attempts to introduce cotton cultivation in Kalmykia had been made in the 1920s. From the perspective of local authorities, cotton production could become one of Kalmykia’s export industries, and the then political leaders believed that this could serve as a means of transforming Kalmykia into a world cotton market participant. But the key problem was that there were few qualified specialists, which was aggravated by lack of decent water supply and special financial support. In the pre-war period, cotton planting in Kalmykia was underproductive and got no widespread use. During the first ‘five-year plans’ at the turn of the 1920s-1930s, the Soviet agrarian policy forcibly introduced cotton cultivation programs within the steppe region which was traditionally inhabited by cattle breeders. In 1997-1999 and 2007-2012, the regional authorities made additional attempts to participate in cotton planting ‘pilot’ projects: experimental cotton seeds were sowed in test fields of the republic. The second short-lived experiment proved far less productive and was not developed properly since there was no special federal target program and, thus, no full-scale state financial support. The conducted analysis reveals achievements and shortcomings of cotton production arrangements in the region during the periods under consideration and suggests further prospects for the development of cotton cultivation in Kalmykia.