The decade up to 1973 was dominated by the war. In 1953, some 410,000 hectares were cultivated, only 250,000 hectares in 1972, and many farmers fled from Guinea or to Bissau and other towns. Reduced food production and the loss of many rice paddies led to widespread malnutrition and disease. An agronomic survey of Guinea by Amílcar Cabral contained a major critique of Estado Novo policies. He was concerned about the emphasis on peanuts, amounting to virtual monoculture, and abandonment of traditional techniques, but he urged state control and collectivisation, not smallholder farming.