ABSTRACT
Most plots are cultivated in a labour-intensive, traditional way, with minimal mechanization and investment; this accounts for their relatively high profit margins. In the majority of households, wages of family members are allocated to routine living expenses, while the income from the plots is saved towards larger investments: home improvements, construction, purchase of a car. The importance of housing conditions and the housing market in the village in relation to household economy cannot be over-emphasized. Housing conditions present more pressing problems for the young whose parents were landless or poorer landowners before the war, because the parental homes in such cases were from the outset of poorer quality. Household production of eggs, vegetables, fruit and meat represent a very substantial and steady contribution towards daily needs and allows cash economies to be made. Completion of the building of a new house does not necessarily lead to a reduction of small farming.
