When the FFC could not meet the loans, it used 2.8 trillion rubles meant to finance farm production in 1996 to pay off the loans. This is approximately 34 percent of their total crop area. This time last year output was 28.9 million tons. Since August, yields have increased 0.31 tons per ha to 1.78 tons per ha. Farmers in the southern regions, namely, the regions of Rostov, Stavropol, Krasnodar, and the republics of Adygeya, Dagestan, and Kabardino-Balkaria, have practically finished their harvesting, while farmers are farthest behind in Central Russia, the Urals, Western Siberia, and the northern Volga.
Russian farmers are considerably behind in hay-making.
By August 10, farmers had mowed only 17.6 million ha of grass or 19 percent less than at the same time last year. They had laid in 13.4 million tons of hay and 17.4 million tons of haylage, which is also down from last year's figures of 17.5 million tons and 20 million tons respectively. The report blamed poor quality machinery for the resultant productivity gap between Russian and American farms. Official figures showed that, since 1990, Russian tractor production dropped 90 percent, grain harvester production by 90.5 percent, and sower production by 98 percent. In 1995, Russians produced only 6 mineral fertilizer spreaders compared with 8,600 in 1990.