Page 66 - Changing Living Spaces

Žarko Lazarević

Table 5 Possibilities for Increased Employment of the Peasant Population
Process Duration Potential
Emigration long term significant
Increase in arable areas short term limited
Employment in industries other than agriculture or at other farms long term significant
Reduction of births long term significant
Increased productivity long term significant
Reduction of livestock herd short term limited
Agricultural crafts short term significant
Industrialization long term significant

327–43). These processes can be divided into those with short-term effects
and those with long-term effects and distinguished according to their po-
tential to reduce agricultural overpopulation.
The breakdown presented indicates that the processes were interde-
pendent and that, in fact, they raised the question of the development
model of society. The measures that alleviated the situation were most-
ly of a long-term nature. Economic growth, the process of industrializa-
tion, a decline in the birth rate, and an increase in agricultural produc-
tivity had already been occurring since the 1890s. These trends continued
in the interwar period. However, population growth still exceeded eco-
nomic growth. In the interwar period, the increase in arable land (15 per-
cent) was short-lived. The process was not only limited in its possibili-
ties, but also had unfavourable consequences. As arable land continued
to increase, pasture land shrank and livestock consequently decreased.
Livestock numbers were reduced by 15 percent (Tomasevich 1955, 334).
As a result, the potential income of farmers also decreased. Agricultural
productivity increased gradually and in the long term, but it was too slow
compared to population growth (Maček 1993). Consequently, the potato
began to gain importance in the structure of crops. No cereal could com-
pete with the economic value of the potato, i.e. its high yield, nutrition-
al value, and versatility. Given the growing demand for food, this was
very important. Employment in non-agricultural industries – in the ser-
vice sector of the urban economy – was also limited. The growing agricul-
tural population exceeded the absorptive capacity of the service sector.
Meanwhile, industrialization was only in its early stages.
Rural areas were thus caught in a snare of acute short-term social cri-
ses and the inertia of the long-term perspective. In the mitigation of the
problems of small farms in the short term, we can distinguish between
three strategies that were used to increase the employment of the popu-

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