<P> Farming was only marginally affected by the Spanish Civil War, yet agricultural output during the 1940s remained below the 1933 level . This low agricultural productivity led to food rationing, substantially contributing to the great hardships endured by people residing in the cities . One of the main reasons for this dilemma was the government preoccupation with industrial self - sufficiency, which resulted in neglect for the modernization of agriculture . The government did encourage grain cultivation with the aim of achieving agricultural self - sufficiency, but heavy - handed efforts to control food prices led to the massive channeling of agricultural products into the black market . </P> <P> The traditional shortcomings of Spanish agriculture--excessive land fragmentation (minifundismo) and extremely large land tracts in the hands of a few (latifundismo)--were, for all practical purposes, ignored . As in the past, latifundio areas with low yields and little irrigation were primarily devoted to the production of such traditional commodities as olive oil, grains, and wine . They were, moreover, the areas where casual rural laborers (braceros) were concentrated, where wage levels were lowest, and where illiteracy rates were highest . </P> <P> A gradual change in Spanish agriculture began in the 1950s, when prices rapidly increased, and the surplus labor pool began to shrink, as a half million rural field hands migrated to the cities or went abroad in search of a better life . Nonetheless, more substantial changes did not take place prior to the 1960s . The Stabilization Plan of 1959 encouraged emigration from rural areas, and the economic boom in both Spain and Western Europe provided increased opportunities for employment . The subsequent loss of rural manpower had a far - reaching effect on both agricultural prices and wage levels and, as a consequence, on the composition of Spanish agriculture . </P> <P> Spain's economic transformation in the 1960s and in the first half of the 1970s caused tremendous outmigration from rural areas . Between 1960 and 1973, 1.8 million people migrated to urban areas . Even later, between 1976 and 1985, when the economy was experiencing serious difficulties, the fall in farm employment averaged 4 percent per annum . The results of these migrations were reflected in the changing percentage of the population involved in farming . In 1960, 42 percent of the population was engaged in agricultural work . By 1986 about 15 percent was so employed--a marked reduction, though still twice as high as the European Community (EC) average . </P>

Why is it possible to raise two crops in mediterranean countries