THE IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULUTURAL PRODUCTION IN THE VALJEVO AREA IN THE DRINA BANOVINA 1929-1941

Agricultural production of the residents of the region of Valjevo is observed through farmers’ debts, and agricultural and social structure of the peasantry of the Valjevo area. The subject of this paper was the analysis of farm sizes, arable lands in the Valjevo area, population structure that made their living in agriculture and tillage machines used for cultivation of the land. The aim of the paper was to compare the branches of agriculture – livestock breeding and agronomy, and quantity and quality of residents’ agricultural products in the Valjevo area in relation to the Drina Banovina and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. Special attention was paid to the analysis of fruit growing, primarily the production of plums, because the Valjevo area was the most significant producer of plums in the country.

n the Kingdom of Yugoslavia the mountainous area dominated in comparison to plains, 53% of the territory was upland, and 17% was extremely mountainous, while only 29.5% of the territory was lowland that had natural conditions for the production of grain crops.Arable lands made up 46.18% of the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, forests covered 30.52%, and the remaining 28.1% were rugged cliffs and marsh lands.According to quality and quantity, most of the arable land was in Vojvodina, 78.33% of the total area, and the least was in Montenegro, 21.95%, and in the coastlands, 21.42%. 1

Agricultural and social structure
In the interwar period, the total area of land in the country was 24,754,166 hectares; out of that 14,553,502 hectares were arable, which was 58.79% 2 of total arable land in the 1 Dimić 1999: 293;Id. 1997: 415. 2 YUG. (1918-1988) 1989: 206.I Kingdom of Yugoslavia.In the Drina Banovina the total land area was 2,584,533 hectares, out of which 1,448,413 hectares were arable, which was 52.02% of total arable land.In comparison to other Banovinas, the Drina Banovina was in the seventh place according to the quantity of arable land, which ranked it as the least developed agricultural region of the country.However, in comparison to the entire country, regarding the cultivation of land, it was approximately the same. 3The former region of Valjevo had a total land area of 245,780 hectares, with 170,454 arable hectares, which was 66.90% of total arable land.The former region of Valjevo had a higher percentage of arable land in relation to the total area of the country when compared to the Drina Banovina and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.The agricultural area of arable land in relation to the type of cultivation, in percentages, is seen in the above-mentioned comparative table for the former region of Valjevo, Drina Banovina and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.By comparing percentages of arable land, it can be seen that in the former region of Valjevo fruit growing was twice as developed as in Drina Banovina, and in comparison to the entire country, the development of fruit growing in the Valjevo area was four times higher.In the Valjevo area plough-fields were by a few percents more arable in comparison to both the Banovina and the country, but pastures, in both the Banovina and the country, were larger than those in the Valjevo area.
Of the total population of 13,934,038 people in the country, according to the 1931 census, 10,670,565 people or 76.58% of them were dependent on agriculture.Working population accounted for 6,682,615 of the total population, or 47.96%, out of whom 5,098,888 or 76.30% of the working population in the country were in pursuit of agriculture with forestry and fishing.Based on these data, over 80% of the working population made profit in agriculture, but with much lower income than in other activities.In the Drina Banovina, the total population was 1,534,739, out of whom 665,665 people or 43.37% were the working population.547,908 people or 82.31% of the working age population of the Drina Banovina worked in agriculture, which made it the fifth Banovina by engagement of residents in agriculture. 5In the former region of Valjevo, according to the 1931 census, 150,019 people, or 88.24% of the total population of 170,014 people, lived on agriculture.The percentage of the agricultural population in the former region of Valjevo was 5.93% higher than in the Drina Banovina, or even 11.79%,higher than the percentage of the agricultural population in the country.The situation was similar in the districts.More than 75% of the population lived from agriculture.In the Valjevo district 31,073 people or 75.92% of the population lived from agriculture, in the Kolubara district 31,279 people or 95.54%, in the Podgora district 26,657 or 97.70%, in the Posavina district 23.624 or 86.58%, and in the Tamnava district 37,395 people or 93.36% of the population lived from agriculture. 6The percentage of the agricultural population in the districts of the former Valjevo area reached even 97%, which was over 15% more than in the Drina Banovina or even 20% higher than the percentage of the population who did agriculture in the country.
There were 1,985,725 agricultural holdings in Yugoslavia in 1931.Among them 1,348,149 or 67.8% had estates smaller than 5 hectares, which occupied 28% of the total land area; 581,325 or 29.3% had estates from 5 to 20 hectares in size, which occupied 49.3% of the land area; 56,271 or 2.9% of the population lived on estates which were larger than 20 hectares, occupying 22.7% of the land area, and 6,957 or 0.35% of estates larger than hectares accounted for 9.60% of the total area of the country. 7Considering that most of the properties, over 67% of them, were less than 5 hectares in size, the holdings were of low productivity and had small material benefits, barely enough for survival, because the accumulation was small.8Small agricultural holdings represented the main obstacle for intensive and profitable agricultural production.As the holdings of more than 10 hectares in size were able to feed their residents, and there were only 12.1% of them in the country, it can be concluded that only that percentage of the population in the country had the opportunity to live well.9(see Table 2 -List of agricultural holdings in 193110 ) The size of the properties in the Drina Banovina, in comparison to the size of the properties in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was nearly identical, as can be seen in the Table below.The situation in the Valjevo district and the former Valjevo area was different in comparison to the Drina Banovina and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia with respect to the possessions of agricultural holdings by comparing their surface areas.The difference was seen in the district itself in comparison to the former region and in comparison to the Drina Banovina and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
In the agricultural structure of the former region of Valjevo, a property of less than hectares in size, which was unable to feed its residents, was predominant.The largest number of wage-earners came from small properties of less than 5 hectares in size, which accounted for 50.28% of the total number of properties in the former region of Valjevo.Properties less than two hectares in size accounted for 20% of the total number of properties and their residents were regular wage-earners.The owners of the two to five-hectareproperties made 30.75% of total number of holdings; their owners belonged to the poor farmers, who also regularly went to earn their wages.Households with the property from 5 to 10 hectares in size belonged to the group of middle properties; they had their own labor and sufficient production necessary to feed their residents.They accounted for 27.42% of total number of properties in the former region of Valjevo.11Properties over 10 hectares in size had the market character, they accounted for 16.62% of the properties in the former region of Valjevo and they realized the income equivalent to that of an industrial worker.12There was a small percentage of 5.27% of the properties over 20 hectares in size, but they had a much higher percentage of the land compared to all other properties and their yields and earnings were the highest.In the Valjevo district most holdings were from 2 to 5 hectares in size and they covered 34.78% of the total number of agricultural households.The second largest holdings, 30.38% of them, were those of 5 to 10 hectares in size.A large percentage, 14.17% of the holdings in the Valjevo district, were 10 to 20 hectares in size.Comparing the number of agricultural holdings between the Valjevo district and the average number of agricultural holdings in the five districts that made the former region of Valjevo, it can be concluded that within the region itself, the differences in the number of agricultural holdings between districts were minimal.

The size of the property in hectares
The number of agricultural holdings with land 0,01-0,50 0,51-1,00  According to the 1931 census in the former region of Valjevo, and in comparison to the total number of agricultural holdings, there were 1.67% of agricultural holdings which had no land in their possession.In the Kingdom of Yugoslavia there were 9.85% families who had no land in their possession 13 in comparison to the total number of agricultural holdings.According to the census from the same year, there were 862,656 persons who were dependent on working for wages in agriculture.Based on the analysis of Nikola Vučo, it is assumed that in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in the period before the Second World War there were over one million people who made their living in agriculture by working on other people's land as wage-earners.In the Drina Banovina, according to the 1931 census, there were 15,381 wage-earners and servants. 14On the eve of the Second World War in 1939, according to the census of the former region of Valjevo, 8,818 residents made their living working for wages as agricultural and cattle-breeding laborers. 15That number was six times higher compared to the 1931 census when 2,170 people were working for wages.Increasing the number of wage-earners is explained by large farmers' debts, divisions of cooperatives, selling parts of the land to pay off debts, and the consequences of the Great Depression.Due to the creation of a small farmer's property, there was a shortage of tillage machines and harness cattle.Of all districts, the Posavina district was in the worst situation, while the Tamnava district had the largest number of tillage machines and animal-drawn carts.The shortage of tillage machines led to poor quality and late cultivation, which caused low productivity and lack of profitability of a small farmer's property.42% of population who did not have reliable sources of food during the year lived on those properties. 16fter the Great War, communal households continued to deteriorate and were divided into a number of smaller, often financially unprofitable communities, while agricultural cooperatives continued to develop. 17The disintegration of cooperatives in the early decades of the 20 th century caused an increase in the number of agricultural holdings by 20%.In the Drina Banovina 30.7% of the population lived in families with seven or more members, which reflected the slow process of modernization and agricultural character of the Drina Banovina. 18In the former region of Valjevo, population lived in families with a large number of members.Speaking of districts, a household consisted of: 6.49 household members in the Valjevo District, 6.91 household members in the Podgora district, 5.07 household members in the Kolubara district, 4.44 household members in the Posavina district, and 6.31 household members in the Tamnava district. 19

Farmers' debts
In the same period, as a result of taking large loans with usurious interest from 20% to 50% and due to the Great Depression, many inhabitants of the Valjevo District who depended on agriculture were in debts and on the verge of existence.Because of the large loans and a particularly large drop of product prices in 1931 and 1932, the Government of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was forced to enact the Law on Protection of Farming Population on 19 April 1932.By this law, the government tried to stop and postpone all public involuntary sales of movable and immovable farmers' goods.It did not solve the problem of farmers' debts, but only postponed it, 20 which led to the passing of the Regulation on liquidation of farming debts on 25 September 1936.It centralized all debts with the reduction of one part. 21In addition to the centralization of debts the basis of the regulation was the protection of monetary institutions and credit cooperatives from bankruptcy.At the same time the Privileged Agrarian Bank was established and it took over the levying of farmers' debts through tax offices and then paid them to the monetary institutions. 22For 800,000 rural households in debt in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which owed the sum of approximately 6 billion dinars, the Regulation provided the measures of debt repayment, all within the limits of their current ability of payment. 23n the interwar period in the Drina Banovina, there were 93,553 debtors with a total debt of 624,638,691 dinars, which was 1,030 dinars per hectare of indebted household.Compared to the 7 billion dinars of agricultural debt in the whole country, which consisted of 709,525 households, the debt of the residents of the Drina Banovina accounted for oneninth of the total debt. 24In the same period, the average farmer's debt in the former region of Valjevo was 10,322.35dinars, which was 510.61 dinars more in comparison to an average indebted household in the country. 25In the former region of Valjevo the indebtedness of farmers in districts per one hectare of household debt was: in the Tamnava district 1,272.15dinars or 19.90%, in the Posavina district 1,848.85dinars or 36.97%, in the Podgora district 1,914.24dinars or 38,29%, in the Kolubara district 1,730.07dinars or 43.27% , and in the Valjevo district 2,139.40dinars or 76.40%. 26A farmer from the Valjevo district was twice as indebted s a farmer from the Tamnava district, which can be seen in the given data, while in other districts the indebtedness of farmers was approximately the same at about 40% per one hectare of land.In addition to the debt that they were burdened with, farmers had high levies from the country in the form of taxes, surtaxes, various fees and expensive necessities of life. 27ven though one of the first power plants in Serbia was built in the village Degurić, electric light in this village alone lit up on the eve of the Second World War, while most of the villages in the region of Valjevo got electricity after the Second World War.The surrounding villages had poor traffic connections with Valjevo, except those villages through which the train passed, which allowed them to have a better communication with the town of Valjevo and the ability for easier delivery of their products to the town market.Most of the agricultural farmers from the villages through which the train passed were not able to take advantage of that privilege, because the large share of the profit from goods sold on the market would be spent on an expensive train ticket.Road transport to other towns was not of great importance for farmers of the Valjevo area because it was too expensive as well. 28Tripković 1980: 99;Selenić 2004: 234;Petranović 1980: 151;Pavlović 2004: 404;Blagojević 1980: 562. 23 Politika, no. 10181, 26. IX 1936, 3. 24 Lazić 1999: 34. 25 Isić 1985: 50. 26 Ibid.2001: 43. 27Joksimović 1981: 18. 28 Tripković 1980: 101.

Arable lands in the Valjevo area
Arable lands in the Valjevo area were divided into five types according to the composition of soil: undeveloped skeletal soil, podzols, brown forest soil, smonitza and river sediments.The first type of soil, undeveloped skeletal soil, dominated in the southern and southwestern parts of the former Valjevo district on mountains Suvobor, Maljen, Jablanik, Povlen and Medvednik.It was most suitable for forests, but if there weren't any, meadows and pastures with favorable climate allowed the raising of small livestock and the development of fruit growing in lower areas.The second type of soil, podzols, which extended over the Kolubara, Tamnava and Valjevo districts, was barren land which gave small harvest yields.The third type of soil, brown forest soil, was very widespread in all the districts of the region of Valjevo; it was suitable for low crops, meadows, pastures, orchards and vineyards.The fourth type of soil, smonitza, could be also found in all districts of the former region of Valjevo, but scattered, too wet and as such suitable for growing corn.It was one of the better soils.The fifth type of soil, river sediments, was located around the Sava, Kolubara, Tamnava and other rivers.It was suitable for growing grain crops and was one of the most fertile soils. 29ost of the former region of Valjevo had a temperate continental climate, except for the lower areas towards the Sava River, which had steppe continental features.The area of the former region of Valjevo was moderately humid, with unsettled springs, accompanied by late and early frosts, affecting the vegetation of the area. 30n the Valjevo area, Kolubara and Podgora were regions with developed livestock breeding and fruit growing, since meadows, pastures, forests and orchards prevailed, while the granaries of the region of Valjevo were Tamnava and Posavina, in which arable plow land prevailed. 31

Tillage machines
On the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia the most dominant tillage machines were disc harrows, ploughs, harrows and sowers.The main characteristic of the agricultural production was irrationality, since crops were mainly hand sown. 32According to the 1925 census, in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes per every 100 hectares there were: 5.43 disc harrows, 13.02 ploughs, 10.76 harrows, 1.31 sowers, 3.65 diggers, 0.16 reapers, 0.10 mowers, 0.55 threshers, 1.95 windmills and 0.30 winnowers, and in the region of Valjevo per every 100 hectares there were: 1.00 disc harrow, 15.72 ploughs, 12.50 harrows, 1.87 sowers, 5.12 diggers, 0.37 reapers, 0.12 mowers, 0.23 threshers, 1.50 windmills and 0.48 winnowers. 33ccording to the 1927 census, there were 324,393 disc harrows, 786,220 ploughs, 647,371 harrows and 78,758 sowers in the country.On 100 hectares of arable land in the country there were 5.43 disc harrows and 13.02 ploughs.Based on the same census in the region of Valjevo there were 891 disc harrows, 12,623 ploughs, 10,078 harrows and 1,572 sowers.On 100 hectares of arable land in the region of Valjevo there was 1 disc harrow and 15.75 ploughs. 34The number of tillage equipment and machines is not an indicator of the quality of agricultural production, but the lack of more sophisticated equipment and machinery, according to data from 1925 and 1927, is an indicator of the poor quality of agricultural production in the region of Valjevo.
At the end of 1940, the Valjevo district needed for work in agriculture 826 iron ploughs or 23.49%, 47 suspended plows or 14.37%, 432 diggers or 37.79%, 30 wheat sowers or 54.00%, 345 corn sowers or 40.59%, 62 reapers or 56.88%, 2 animal-powered threshers or 16.66%, 43 windmills or 32.82% and 157 winnowers or 59.69%. 35In 1939 in the Drina Banovina each household lacked 48.25% of ploughs.In the same year in the districts of the former region of Valjevo the number of ploughs which were needed per household was: 48.18% in the Valjevo district, 40.42% in the Podgora district, 42.66% in the Kolubara district, 65.59% in the Posavina district, and 41.14% in the Tamnava district. 36In the Posavina district the most urgent were tillage ploughs, but it was one-fifth less than in other districts which were equal in the number of plows.However, in the Posavina district one tractor came to 1,393 households while in the Kolubara district one tractor came to 6,118 households, and in the Tamnava district one tractor came to 6,859 households.In the whole Banovina, one tractor came to the 9,967 households while the Valjevo district and the Podgora district did not have any tractors. 37Primitive disc harrows and ploughs as well as hand sowing were dominant in most parts of the country and the Banovina.Agricultural mechanization was practically non-existent in agricultural production. 38When comparing data on the use of tillage machines and their absence in the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, the Drina Banovina and the former region of Valjevo, it is evident that in the region of Valjevo not even 1% of the of the tillage machinery was used.

Agronomy
The structure of production determined the structure of consumption, because wheat and corn were the main items. 39As in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, where in constant fear of hunger grain crops were grown on 82.5% of the total cultivated area, so in the former region of Valjevo wheat and corn were sown to a greater extent in most land areas in comparison to barley and rye that were sown in insignificant quantities of land. 40On average, in the period from 1929 to 1940, in the former region of Valjevo 109,454 hectares or 93.01% of total arable land were planted with grain crops, wheat was planted on 48,755 hectares or 44.54%, corn on 47,171 hectares or 43.09%, while barley, oats and rye were planted on 13,529 hectares or 12.37% of land.Obradović 1939: 7. 36 Ibid.14. 37 Ibid.Dimić 2005: 42.former district of Valjevo vegetable crops and industrial and animal fodder were sown. 41fter the economic crisis, the areas planted with wheat remained the same or were reduced, while areas planted with corn were increasing.Although the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was the country with the highest production of corn in Europe, in the interwar period the yields were not adequate to the conditions of the time.Based on the annual report of Municipal Authorities of the Kolubara district from 30 January 1936 for the year 1935, it was evident that the yields in husbandry were 25% lower in comparison to the previous year. 42n 1939 on the territory of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia grain crops were sown on an area of 6,239,574 hectares, which was 43.07% of the total arable area of 14,553,502 hectares in the country.In the Drina Banovina grain crops were sown on an area of 639,810 hectares, which was 44,17% of the total arable area of 1,448,413 hectares. 43In the former region of Valjevo grain crops were sown on an area of 100,806 hectares, which was 56.81% of the total arable area of 177,420 hectares.
In the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1936, 2,247,088 quintals of wheat were sown and 29,235,719 quintals of it were harvested.In the Drina Banovina 2,928,706 quintals of wheat were harvested, and in the former region of Valjevo 51,902 quintals of wheat were sown and 552,244 quintals of wheat were harvested.In 1940 2,260,003 quintals of wheat were sown in the country, and 28,756,116 quintals were harvested, in the Drina Banovina 228,160 quintals were sown, and 2,332,523 quintals were harvested, and in the former region of Valjevo 50,256 quintals of wheat were sown and 322,371 quintals of wheat were harvested. 44As years passed, the land area sown with wheat increased, but yields were lower.On average, the yields declined in both the country and the Banovina, but not as drastically as in the former region of Valjevo, where the land area sown with wheat was slightly reduced, while yields were almost twice as low.However, even though the income was minimal, farmers had to produce because they had to support themselves from their work.
During 1932, 2,520,556 hectares of corns were sown in the country and 47,929,650 quintals per hectare were picked; in the Drina Banovina 4,776,676 quintals of corn per hectare were picked, and in the former region of Valjevo 45,680 hectares of corn were sown, and 572,014 quintals per hectare were picked.In the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1940, 2,793,536 hectares of corn were sown and 40,456,058 quintals per hectare were picked; in the Drina Banovina 316,392 hectares were sown and 3,804,094 quintals of corn per hectare were picked, and in the former region of Valjevo 54,103 hectares of corn were sown and 644,581 quintals per hectare were picked. 45Despite the increase in sown land areas, higher yields in both the country and the Banovina were missing.In the region of Valjevo, proportional increase in yields compared to the sown areas was noticed.The Drina Banovina was in the third place in the country by the production of corn.STAT. GOD. (1940) 1941: 154. 44 Лазић 1999: 68;YUG. (1918YUG. ( -1988YUG. ( ) 1989: 209;: 209;Исић 1985: 189. 45 Лазић 1999: 7;YUG. (1918YUG. ( -1988) )   The comparative table shows the production of grain crops in the former region of Valjevo.Despite the increase in the sown area of wheat and barley, yields declined, while the increase in the sown area of corn and oat brings the increase in yields which is proportional to the sown area.The area sown with rye is the only one that increased its sown area by four times, which led to an increase in yield.However, the sown area itself is negligible compared to the total arable area in the region of Valjevo.
Expensive processing of wheat and increase in livestock fund on the eve of the war caused the demand for corn as forage.The highest corn yield was 22.8 quintals in the Tamnava district, and the lowest was 7.7 quintals in the Podgora district in 1939.In the same year, the highest yield of wheat per one hectare in the Posavina district was 15 quintals, and the lowest of 8 quintals was in the Podgora district .47In 1940 wheat yields in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia failed and in the region of Valjevo they were almost 50% lower than the previous year.As the yields were not sufficient to feed the population, although the harvest of corn exceeded expectations, the government was forced to set the maximum price of wheat at 230 dinars and of corn at 180 dinars per 100 kg in the Regulation of 29 June 1940.Despite the government Regulation, the price of wheat in the Valjevo area reached 340 dinars and the price of corn even 320 dinars.To stop the rampage of prices of wheat and corn, the government passed a new Regulation on 26 August and set a maximum price of wheat at 300 dinars, tightening the measures of punishment for those who violated the newly passed Regulation.The consequences of passing the second regulation and its implementation in practice led to the secret selling of wheat or to the complete halt in sale by farmers who had no interest to sell it. 48 farmer in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia did not take into account either the quality of the seed or standards of production.Because of such production and poor storage conditions, there was volatility of product prices on the market.As a consequence, the farmer usually had to sell his excess products in the period of the lowest prices and the highest offers.The price of corn in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia varied by 50% throughout the season in relation to the United States, where the price of corn fluctuated by only 10%.Until 1933, the prices of raw materials and food were 40% lower in comparison to the period 46 POLJ.GOD.STAT (1935STAT ( ) 1940: 12, 38;: 12, 38;Исић 1985Исић : 190. 47 Tripković 1980: 96. 48 : 96. 48 Glas Valjeva, no. 12, 1. IX 1940, 3.  before the crisis . 49ndustrial plants like hemp, flax and sugar beet were cultivated and in 1939 these industrial plants were cultivated in the former region of Valjevo on the area of 957 hectares or 0.77%, in comparison to the total sown area in the region.In that same year, in the Drina Banovina industrial plants were cultivated on 8,168 hectares, or 1.55% of the total sown area in Banovina; and in the country 203,933 hectares or 2.67% of the total sown area in the country. 50In vegetable farming potatoes, cabbage, beans, garlic and onions, tomatoes, peppers and peas were mostly grown.In 1939, the vegetable crops in the former region of Valjevo covered the area of 3,733 hectares or 3.02% of the total sown area in the region.In the Drina Banovina 30,510 hectares or 4.32% of the total sown area in the Banovina were under vegetable crops, and in the country vegetable crops were sown on 430,493 hectares or 5.65% of the total sown area in the country. 51In growing industrial plants and in vegetable farming, it can be seen that the production in the Valjevo area was for about 1% lower in comparison to the production in the Drina Banovina, while in relation to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, that percentage increased by another percent.
Fruit growing was the most appreciated, especially plum growing.The Va ljevo district had long been the most important producer of plums in Serbia, the Drina Banovina and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.The number of fruit-bearing trees in the country in 1929 was 50,403,000 with the yield of 370,000 tons and the yield per tree was 7.34 kilograms, while in 1939 there were 43,800,000 fruit-bearing trees with the yield of 1,223 tons, and on average 28 kilograms of fruit were picked per tree. 52The number of fruit-bearing trees in the Drina Banovina in 1929 was 18,073,712 or 35.89% of the total number of plum trees in the state.YUG. (191852 YUG. ( -1988) ) 1989: 211.

Number of fruit trees
Fruit yields  The report of the Municipality of Valjevo to the Royal Banate Administration of the Drina Banovina in 1939 showed the number of fruit trees with yields in the Valjevo district and, based on the same report, the absolute dominance in growing plums was confirmed in comparison to other fruit crops.Considering the number of 42,702,000 plum trees in the country, the number of 30,000 trees in the Valjevo district was significant if compared to the size of the area and population in the country and in the district. 54onsidering the total number of plum trees in the country, 1/3 of them were planted in the Drina Banovina, so it absolutely dominated in the production of plums.As the former region of Valjevo was the most dominant in the production of plums in the Drina Banovina, about 2/3 of the total production of plums from the Valjevo area were dried and exported to Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia.Marmalade and brandy were made from the rest of the plums, which was approximately 1/3 of the total annual production.In the former region of Valjevo, during abundant years, 200 wagons of plum brandy and hot brandy were produced on annual basis in the entire region for the purpose of sale.Besides that, every household produced additional 100 liters of plum brandy for its own purposes. 55By 1924 the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was the first in the world in the trade with prunes, before North America took over that priority.By the end of the 1920's the main exporter of prunes in Valjevo was a merchant, Jew John Handel, from Belgrade. 56The export of prunes in 1930 was 7.5 million kilograms and in three years it increased to 26.5 million kilograms. 57In the 1930's, in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Privileged Institute a.d.for Export of Agricultural Products -Prizad was a monopolistic institution which was buying up all agricultural products for export by the order of the state and on its account.By establishing Prizad, the state aimed to stabilize agricultural markets during and after the Great Depression.Over time, Prizad turned into an institution through which the state was 53 Municipal Historical Archive of Valjevo (in the further text MHAV), Municipality of the town of Valjevo (in the further text MTV), 1879-1944. no. 204, folder no. 201. 54 YUG. (1918-1988) ) 1989: 219. 55Tripković 1980: 97. 56 Vujić, Sikirica, Ninić, Joksimović, Ilinčić, Tripković 1967: 160. 57 Glasnik centralnog higijenskog zavoda, 3, 1936, 1.  collecting profit from the sale of agricultural products. 58After plums, the second fruit crops in the region of Valjevo, but by far behind them, were apples with 188,121 trees.According to the agricultural annual statistics from 1939, the number of apple trees in the state was about 8 million. 59lthough the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was among the first in the world in the production of plums, it was hard to place the products on the market during and after the Great Depression.It was often blackmailed by major importing countries of prunes and dried plums regarding the price, the payment method and the quantities purchased.Based on the annual report of the Municipal Authorities of the Kolubara district from 15 January 1934 for the previous year, it could be seen that 140 wagons of fresh plums and 250 wagons of prunes were exported during the season.The price of fresh plums ranged from 0.8 to 1.70 dinars per kilogram, while the price of prunes ranged from 3.20 to 6.50 pounds per kilogram. 60Based on the annual report of the Municipal Authorities of the Kolubara district about the situation in the district in 1934, it could be seen that the yield of plums failed due to gypsy moth pests.Therefore, only 6 wagons of prunes and three wagons of fresh plums were exported abroad. 61As 1935 was lean year due to severe droughts, plum yields were also small.Only 1,000 wagons of prunes were dried and stored for export in the entire Valjevo area.At a cost of 5 dinars per kilogram, Germany imported the whole quantity, but the payment was received after a year.Next year, the plum yield exceeded all expectations and therefore 5,000 wagons of dried plums were prepared for export.The problem was to find the market and keep such a low purchase price of 2.5 to 3 dinars and meet all the requirements of importers which were at the expense of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and therefore the former region of Valjevo.In 1936 Germany agreed to import 1,000 wagons of dried plums and 500 wagons of fresh plums at the lowest price with reduced customs, but under the condition that all the business should go over the Fruit Growing Association in possession of Dimitrije Ljotić.Through this solidarity of fascists in the business, Germany directly boosted the fund for the promotion of their fascist ideas through Ljotić' organization Zbor. 62n average, 250 wagons of wheat, 80 wagons of corn, 250 wagons of barley, oats and rye, 150 wagons of all kinds of fresh fruit, 300 to 400 wagons of prunes, 25 wagons of all types of beverages, mostly brandy, and about 250 wagons of hay bales were annually exported abroad from the train station in Valjevo. 63n the eve of the Second World War, raspberry production was intensified in the Valjevo area and in the postwar period it would take priority over plums.Thanks to Sreten Krstić's exporting company from Belgrade, which was specialized in the export of raspberries, the growth of raspberry fields started unexpectedly in the Valjevo area, especially in Podgora.During 1940, 25 wagons of fresh raspberries were purchased, out of which 2 to 3 wagons to meet the needs of Belgrade and the rest was exported.The price of purchased raspberries was 7 to 9 dinars per kilogram and they was mostly exported to 58 Glas Valjeva, no. 20, 20. XI 1940, 3. 59 Lazić 1999: 94;YUG. (1918YUG. ( -1988YUG. ( ) 1989: 219. 60 : 219. 60 AbaH, RBA DB, Agricultural Department no.9199/34. 61Ibid.no.7008/35. 62Naša reč, no. 4, 1. IX 1936, 2. 63 Vujić, Sikirica, Ninić, Joksimović, Ilinčić, Tripković 1967: 161.Germany, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.By the beginning of the Second World War, over 80% of raspberry production in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia went to the market of England, but due to the outbreak of war in 1939 the market was changed. 64inegrowing was not developed in the region of Valjevo in comparison to the state where winegrowing was an important industry.Vineyards in the region of Valjevo were on small lands and intended only for domestic purposes.On the basis of the report of the Municipality of Valjevo to the Royal Banate Administration of t the Drina Banovina, vineyards occupied the area of only 275 hectares in the Valjevo district, with a total yield of 7,335 hectoliters of wine or 26.59 hectoliters of wine per hectare. 65In 1939, the total area under vineyards in the region of Valjevo was 665 hectares or 0.36% of the total agricultural land in the area. 66Throughout the Drina Banovina in 1931, vineyards occupied the area of 2,041 hectares, with a total yield of 30,160 hectoliters of wine or 14.77 hectoliters of wine per hectare.It was minimal in comparison with the state where the vine planted land occupied an area of 199,095 hectares, with a total yield of 1,294,708 hectoliters of wine or 32.78 hectoliters of wine per hectare. 67Based on the annual report of the Municipal Authorities of the Kolubara district of 15 January 1934 for the previous year, it could be seen that the most common varieties of grapevines in the Valjevo area were: Kameničarka, Prokupac, Drenac, Smederevka and occasionally Afus-ali.The average yield of grapes was a kilogram or two per vine plant. 68

Livestock breeding
Livestock breeding of sheep, cattle, pigs, goats and horses played a significant part in agriculture.The consequences of a reduced number of heads of cattle in livestock breeding due to the Great War would be felt until the beginning of the Second World War, especially in horse breeding and sheep breeding.In the country, in the period from 1921 to 1931, the number of sheep increased by 44.82%, goats by 20.22%, horses by 16%, until the number of cattle reached the level from 1921, but the number of pigs reached it only in 1938.In the Drina Banovina the livestock fund was similar to that of the whole country.
The report of the councilors of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Sarajevo in 1936, which was submitted to the Commercial Association of Valjevo, showed disastrous consequences of the economic crisis in livestock breeding in the Valjevo area.In the period of only two years, from 1931 to 1933, the number of cattle decreased by one-third.Only the number of beehives was slightly increased in the same period. 70  From the comparative table above it can be seen that the livestock fund in the Drina Banovina in comparison to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was not negligible.On average, it accounted for about 10% of the entire fund.In the former region of the Valjevo area, livestock fund was at the average level of about 1% in comparison to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, with the deviation only in the number of goats, which was insignificant in relation to the number of goats in the country.If we compare the livestock fund of the region of Valjevo and the Drina Banovina, the following data can be seen.The number of horses in the region of Valjevo in comparison to the number of horses in the Drina Banovina 70 MHAV, Association of Merchants fo the Valjevo and Podgora Districts, no.25. folder no. 9. 71 Tripković 1980: 98. 72  accounted for 4.68%, the number of cattle accounted for 11.72%, pigs for 16.54%, sheep for 13.76%, and the number of goats accounted for 5.75%.One part of the producers of the region of Valjevo and the part of the administration in the district imported cattle from abroad, enriching their livestock fund by the order of the Royal Banate Administration in Sarajevo.Brothers Stevan and Sava Mićić from Obrenovac were given a permit by the Slovak Ministry of Agriculture in 1939 to import 200 pigs. 75The report of Živojin Živković, a state district veterinarian from Valjevo on 31 March 1930 showed that, by the orders of the Banovina, the district veterinary service from Valjevo imported a bull for breeding and 7 boars. 76In that same year, due to increased export of pigs to Switzerland, its federal government had reduced customs duty on the import of pigs from 50 to 20 Swiss francs, thus enabling an increase in earnings of the producers of the region of Valjevo. 77armers from the Valjevo area were not educated and they poorly applied new technological developments.They raised cattle primarily for their own use rather than for material gain.They only got back what they invested, no more than that.Fodder was not of good quality, they spared every gram of food for animals.In winter, the food for horned cattle was mainly based on straw and corn sedge, and in summer on hay and grass, which was usually of poor quality due to droughts.Stronger and better food, bran and corn grits were given only to cows in calf and working oxen.The farmers of the Valjevo area were overrun with weeds of their own mistakes, which held them up from going towards the more perfect work and progress. 78They tried to import livestock of better quality, so it could be mated with the existing livestock in order to improve its quality.However, the selection and choice of it were not taken into consideration, so more harm than good was done. 79The state was trying to educate the farmers in the former region of Valjevo, which is evident from the reports of district offices about holding the courses on drying plums in the village of Osladić in 1931, 80 and about agronomy and livestock breeding in the village of Sovljak in early 1932. 81However, the application of theoretical knowledge from those courses was not seen.
In the former region of Valjevo, beekeeping and poultry raising were the most developed sub-branches of agriculture in comparison to the Drina Banovina and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.In the region of Valjevo, there were 327,959 poultries and 15,798 beehives in 1939.In the same year, there were 2,008,754 poultries in the Drina Banovina, and 22,449,785 in the whole state, while there were 100,438 beehives in the Banovina, and 792,807 82 in the whole state.As one third of the poultry was grown in the region of Valjevo in comparison to the Drina Banovina, the next logical step was to have The Large Agricultural Exhibition of Poultry In Valjevo from 22 to 24 October 1933, and The First Poultry Congress in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia 83 Based on the report of the Valjevo administration, it can be seen that beekeeping in Valjevo had a high yield of honey and wax; 750 hives drained out 4,800 kilograms of honey and 450 kilograms of wax. 84Based on the annual report of the Municipal Authorities of the Kolubara district of 30 January 1936 for the previous year, it can be seen that the Kolubara district had 48,165 poultries and 2,329 hives. 85he situation in agriculture in the region of Valjevo in 1931 was evident from the report of the Valjevo district Head of Administration in June of the same year, which had been submitted to the Royal Banate Administration in Sarajevo.In vegetable farming, yields were much lower than the previous year because of the dry summer.Winter crops and corn had good yields; plums, apples and pears were very bearing, livestock was in good condition, although it was assumed that due to the dry summer there would not be food for sowing.Beekeeping and poultry raising were in good condition. 86The head of the district administration in Valjevo sent reports of similar content in June 1933. 87The general state of agriculture was apparently good, but due to the crisis in the country and a large price drop of agricultural products which began in the summer of 1929 and lasted until 1934 the situation was only seemingly fine.Besides the fact that 1931, 1932 and 1934 were lean  years, 1935 and 1940 had disastrous yields.High taxes which the state claimed from farmers, usurious loans, lean and hungry years, the economic crisis and many more pressured and troubled farmers in the region of Valjevo, the Drina Banovina of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.Farmers who lived in that area were not richer than the richest, nor poorer than the poorest in the Banovina and Yugoslavia.They lived, worked, tormented themselves and died as in other places, areas, regions, banovinas, and countries.

Table 1 -
Agricultural area of arable land in the period from 1929 to 1940 4

Table 3 -
The production of grain crops in the former region ofValjevo in 1929 and 1939 46

Table 4 -
Number of fruit trees with yields in the region ofValjevo in 1929 and 1939

Table 5 -
The number of fruit trees with yields in the Valjevo district in 193953

Table 6 -
Livestock fund from 1921 and 1939 in the region of Valjevo 69 On the eve of the Second World War, the largest cattle breeders were the Kolubara and Tamnava districts, the largest pig breeders were the Tamnava and Posavina district, sheep breeders the Podgora and Kolubara district, horse breeders the Sava and Tamnava district, and the largest goat breeders were in the Valjevo district.71Peronethousand inhabitants of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, there were 83 horses, 273 cattle, 205 pigs, 610 sheep and 134 goats; per one thousand inhabitants of the Drina Banovina there were 69 horses, 313 cattle, 257 pigs, 563 sheep and 111 goats, and per one thousand inhabitants of the region of Valjevo there were 28 horses, 352 cattle, 354 pigs, 803 sheep and 50 goats. 72sed on the annual report of the Municipal Authorities of the Kolubara district of 30 January 1936 for the previous year, it can be seen that in the Kolubara district there were 12,640 cattle, 242 horses, 6,241 pigs, 21,919 sheep and about 1,265 goats, and the livestock fund in the region of Valjevo can be seen in the table below.73

Table 7 -
Livestock fund in 1939 in the regions of Valjevo, Drina Banovina and in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia 74