Page 61 - Changing Living Spaces

Peasants, Land, and Work

Table 2 Agrarian Overpopulation in Slovenia
1921 1931 1938
Agricultural population (in thousands) 639 690 722
Cultivated land (in thousands of hectares) 324 362 375
Livestock in animal units (in thousands) 639 558 544
Agricultural population per single hectare of 1.97 1.91 1.93
cultivated land
Source Tomasevich 1955, 322.

ants were the worst managed, since the main goal of management was
short-term yield.
At the level of public discourse, agriculture and forests represented the
indispensable element of rural survival. The desire for a political inter-
vention that would ensure a more balanced structure of land ownership
was constantly present, especially to ensure land and forest ownership
of sufficient size for small and micro farms. According to the prevailing
opinion, the ideal farm consisted of about five hectares and had a produc-
tion potential that ensured the survival of a farm family. Due to political
pressure, agrarian reform was introduced after World War I, but it did not
bring the expected results. Reality and political illusions could not be rec-
onciled. This was due, on the one hand, to the small number of large es-
tates with extensive arable or forest land and, on the other hand, to their
uneven geographical distribution (where there was a lot of forest, arable
land was scarce and vice versa).
When the results of agrarian reform were analysed in the late 1930s, it
was found that they had little or no effect on land tenure. On average, in-
terested small farmers received only 0.66 ha of arable land, and even that
only in the eastern parts of Slovenia. For 22,000 peasants who owned
hardly any land, the reform certainly represented an important advan-
tage, as it partially eased their situation: they could now produce some-
what more food. However, this was hardly enough for bare survival, and
they had to look for other sources of income to keep up with the demands
of social modernization.
Agricultural overpopulation posed an acute economic and social prob-
lem in the countryside. By World War II, this problem was exacerbated as
population growth outpaced increases in agricultural productivity. In ad-
dition, opportunities for non-agricultural activities were limited.
Agrarian overpopulation had negative effects on agriculture. The de-
cline of livestock and the expansion of cultivated land were related to the
need to increase food production to keep pace with population growth

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