Serious Food Shortage Position Reported in Jewish Colonies in Ukraine: Good Reports Arriving However

Alarming reports of the situation in the Jewish colonies in the Ukraine in connection with the spring sowing have been under discussion by the Commissariat of Lands, according to an official communique issued here. A large number of the Jewish colonies in the Crimea, it is stated, have already completed their sowing, which guarantees an adequate summer crop, but in the Ukraine both Jewish and non-Jewish collectives are very much behind in their sowing schedule, the result of which is to create a dangerous position in regard to food supplies in this part of the country, even after the new crop will have been taken off the fields. The Commissariat of Lands admits in its communique that the present spring sowing throughout the Ukraine cannot be considered satisfactory.

The Yiddish Communist organ “Emess” here states that there is a real danger that the Kalinindorf Jewish region, in the Ukraine, which is now suffering a shortage of bread supplies, may not have any bread even after the new crop Only 55 per cent. of the fields in the Kalinindorf region have been sown in the present spring sowing, it says, which means that there will be a substantial shortage there even if the crop on thatppart of the land which has been sown is most successful.

The situation, it adds, is similar in the Stalindorf Jewish region, where the sowing has not been carried through to the full extent contemplated.

The Jewish colonies in the Ukraine are so much behind in their sowing, mainly because a great number of the Jewish colonists have left their colonies, and many more are still leaving them for the cities, where they can work and buy sufficient bread, and an additional reason is the shortage of houses for the ploughing work. A large proportion of the livestock is underfed on account of the shortage of fodder, and many of the cattle and horses have died.

Furthermore, many of the Jewish collectives, finding themselves short of bread supplies used their seed reserves for food, instead of for sowing, in spite of the fact that it is illegal to do so.

While conditions in the Jewish regions of the Ukraine are very grave, the situation in the Jewish colonies in the Crimea, on the other hand, is stated to be very bright. There is no bread shortage in the Crimea, and the spring sowing work there has been completed fully in accordance with the Schedule.