Methodological Problems in Defining a National Economic Agroindustrial Complex

Agriculture is one of the most important branches of the national economy, and to an immense degree the realization of the basic goal of socialist production â the fullest satisfaction of the ever growing needs of members of society â depends on the level of its development. Approximately three-fourths of the entire personal consumption of material goods by the population is made up of agricultural products and products produced from agricultural raw materials. In 1973, 25 percent of the entire work force in the national economy and approximately one-third of the work force in branches of material production were employed in agriculture (including private subsidiary farming). The fixed productive capital of this branch (excluding land) amounted to 137 billion rubles in present prices at the beginning of 1974, or 20 percent of the value of all fixed productive capital in the national economy. The share of net agricultural output calculated in existing prices equals 19-20 percent of all national income created in branches of material production; and if one considers turnover tax and other elements of net income obtained from the sale of products from agricultural raw materials (the part that belongs to agriculture based on socially necessary expenditures of labor), this share will increase to 30 percent.