This resolution also stated that the proportion of the contracted amount to be left to cooperative members should not be less than 40 percent. Unit prices in the contract, as well as the contract itself, had to be fixed for five years. The contracts were to be signed between the peasant and the cooperative, whereas previously the production brigades had to be involved (Fforde and de Vylder 1996). Households who did not meet the quota had to compensate the cooperatives in cash or in kind, at the market price.13
During 1987–91, price liberalization was carried out with sequential reform measures to abolish the ration system and the gap between official and market prices. Price liberalization was accompanied The quota was fixed for five years, bringing a degree of certainty to peasant households that had hitherto been lacking. Peasant households also had to pay agricultural taxes equivalent to an average of 10 percent of annual output. Finally, and importantly, the state accepted private sector food marketing.