The Household Plot: Moribund Remnant of the Past or Way of the Future? Village Farming in Ukraine

Although omnipresent in Russian, then Soviet, and finally post-Soviet agrarian history, the village plot has often been described as a residue of the past, destined for impending disappearance. However, it is still alive, especially in the Ukrainian countryside where it sustains five million rural households while ensuring a significant share of national agricultural production. After recalling the place of the plot in Soviet agriculture, within the kolkhoz structure, and its evolution in the aftermath of decollectivisation, this article analyses its contemporary modes of operation, as well as the diversity within household plots. The authors demonstrate, based on extensive fieldwork conducted in five raions (districts), that the economic performance of these micro-farms is far from negligible and that they play a decisive role in regional production.