This book analyzes the transition of Russia's agro-food sector from a centrally planned system to a market-oriented one. The chapters set out to explain the initial conditions of transition, describe the measures undertaken, survey the current situation, and offer perspectives on how best to continue with the reform. Hence, the book not only provides insights into Russia's food economy, it also gives very valuable information about the process of transition and the question: What next? Within the Russian context, the food economy is of special importance, due to the relatively high share it represents in the economy and its importance for employment. Furthermore, the privatization and the restructuring of the country's agro-food sector is one of the most controversial issues in the ongoing domestic political debate about the reform process. Russia is also important in that its reintegration into the world economy is at stake. Russia's Agro-Food Sector: Towards Truly Functioning Markets should increase the understanding of the issues causing the cumbersome implementation of reform measures and, in so doing, might provide scholars and policymakers with advice on how to improve the transition process. In fact, one of the most important lessons from the book is that markets will continue to malfunction as long as institutions are not functioning properly.

The agricultural sector in Russia has considerable untapped productive potential. Given this potential, agriculture could provide a solid foundation for growth and poverty alleviation, particularly in rural areas of Russia. The objectives of this book are to facilitate debate of issues key to agricultural policy, to contribute to a greater understanding of the Russian agricultural sector outside of Russia, and to identify a framework for further collaboration between the Russian government and the World Bank in the rural sector.

Basing their findings on four years of research during which they studied rural districts drawn from a variety of contrasting regions of European Russia, the authors discuss the place of rural households in Russia's agri-food production system. They show that far from being solely concerned with 'survival' household plots in contemporary Russia are increasingly used to produce crops and livestock products for the market. In the book they describe the rich variety of forms that small and independent farming takes today from highly localised clusters of cucumber or tomato producers to specialization in crop or animal husbandry at a higher spatial scale or associated with particular ethnic groups. The authors systematically examine the influence on past and present practices of distance and the environment, the state of the large farm sector, local customs, and ethnicity on what households produce and how they produce it often using case studies of people they have met (plot holders, farmers, local officials) to illustrate their point. They criticise the tendency of the household production to be treated as the agricultural 'Other' in post-Soviet Russia and argue with the right incentives it has the potential for further development.