permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

Dacha gardeners feeding the Russian nation
http://naturalhomes.org/naturalliving/russian-dacha.htm
In 2011 the dacha gardens of Russia produced 40% of the nation's food.


 40% of Russia's Food is from Dacha Gardens

In 2011, 51% of Russia's food was grown either by dacha communities (40%),
like those pictured left in Sisto-Palkino, or peasant farmers (11%) leaving
the rest (49%) of production to the large agricultural enterprises. But
when you dig down into the earthy data from the Russian Statistics
Service<http://www.gks.ru/wps/wcm/connect/rosstat_main/rosstat/en/figures/agriculture/>you
discover some impressive details. Again in 2011, dacha gardens
produced
over 80% of the countries fruit and berries, over 66% of the vegetables,
almost 80% of the potatoes and nearly 50% of the nations milk, much of it
consumed raw.

While many European governments make living on a small-holding very
difficult, in Russia the opposite is the case. In the UK one
councillor<http://www.lowimpact.org/blog/2012/Sep/smallholding_is_like_prison.htm>'s
opinion regarding living of the land was, "*Nobody would subject themselves
to that way of life. You might as well be in prison*"; tell that to a
nation of gardeners living off the land.


During the communist period school children were obliged to visit their
local farms to get hands-on experience harvesting food (below left) at a
time when about 90% of the nation's food came from dacha gardens. During
the same period every child would be expected to play their part in growing
the family's food from their small patch of Russia.

While the percentage of food grown by Russia's dacha has fallen since then
it is still a massive contribution to the nation's food and forms an
important part of their rural heritage. Take a walk through the street's of
Russia's cities, like St. Petersburg, and you will find people selling
herbs, fruit, berries and vegetables from their dacha gardens. Unlike many
cities in Europe and the USA, Russian cities are peppered with small corner
shops (below right) selling locally grown food in all shapes, colours and
sizes still carrying their native Russian soil.