Instituirea şi funcţionarea magaziilor de rezervă a cerealelor în Basarabia (1834-1856)
Establishment and functioning of the public granaries in Bessarabia (1834-1856)

Summary/Abstract: In this article we analyze the establishment of public granaries in Bessarabia according to the Regulation of 24 January 1834, their opening in 1840 and functioning during 16 years, in which, according to Regulation’s provisions, they were to be fully filled with prescribed quantity of grain. The analysis of unpublished archival and published sources on this issue allows us to conclude that the system elaborated by the Russian law-makers did not really give any benefit to the population, which in the drought years was forced to buy the grain they gave to the reserve granaries for free. The Crimean War (1853-1856) eloquently proved that the entire system created with the stated goal of ensuring the food security of the population had completely different goals. Grain stocks, which were located in rural reserve granaries, were provided to the army, practically they were transformed into army supplies, and the population was left even without the grain needed for sowing. On a larger scale, the reserve granaries were a serious obstacle to the involvement of peasants in the system of market relations. At the same time, it was advantageous for landowners, since they no longer had to take care of food for the peasants who lived and worked on their estates during the famine, thus selling their grains without making any reserves, to be exported abroad.

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