The privatization of state-owned property is “not a smooth process,” said Russia’s highest-ranking agricultural official, Alexander Zaverjukha.

Zaverjukha made his comments to a group of about 150 people at the Memorial Union Monday.

Zaverjukha, a Russian deputy prime minister since 1993, oversees the Russian agencies of agriculture and food, land resources, forestry, and environmental protection. He has a doctorate in agriculture.

The Russian official is on an American tour to drum up support for Russian agriculture. He will meet with U.S. officials, including Vice President Al Gore, later this month in Washington.

Zaverjukha said five or six years ago, it was decided that reforms in agriculture had to be made by privatizing state-owned property and land.

In 1992, because of the difficulty in agricultural reform, Russia had to import products when the country actually had the resources to export those products, he said.

He also said Russian farmers have faced many other problems, including a 20 percent inflation rate in 1993 and 1994, an unpredictable exchange rate and the transition from a public to private economy, which caused disorder in terms of supplies.

Zaverjukha said Russia is trying to get used to the open market, which will help agriculture.

The process of reform is “an evolutionary, not a revolutionary process,” he said.

“We need to understand people used to work in a setting where money wasn’t the issue. We are trying to change their mentality,” he said.

Zaverjukha said Russia’s farmers now have the choice of working at a state-owned farm or having their own operation.

In 1993, the Russian legislature passed a number of measures in support of agriculture. From this work, agriculture loans were developed, Zaverjukha said.

He said the Russian government needs to be able to lend money to farmers under special terms.

Zaverjukha said Russia can increase efficiency if it uses technology developed in Russia and within the international research community.

Russia invites investment from the west. Officials have been working with 150 western companies, including Pioneer, Cargill and John Deere, he said.

“We’re not talking about humanitarian aid, because nobody’s going to feed 150 million people in Russia. We are talking about collaborative efforts, in the area of development of agriculture,” Zaverjukha said.

Zaverjukha said he would like to ask the United States for help with the small private farm enterprises in Russia.

But Zaverjukha said it’s not all “gloom and doom” in Russia. Three years ago, officials stopped buying grain, and last year Russians sold 1.5 million tons of grain on the world market.

“We shouldn’t dramatize the situation,” he said, “but we need to make sure that we would improve the situation in agriculture.”