Regulations concerning the allocation of their income by collective farms among investment funds and various social and other obligatory funds and distribution to members were modified in late 1970 or early 1971 with a view to stimulating the members' interest in raising the efficiency of production. Under the old system, distribution to members was made from residual funds remaining after all statutory public and social obligations were met. The revised farm statutes authorize the farms' general assemblies to allocate net income in ratios ranging from 18 to 25 percent for investment and from 75 to 82 percent for consumption. In actual practice, however, income distribution is reported to follow a somewhat different pattern, which tends to reduce the share available for distribution to members. The new regulations have not altered the generally acknowledged fact that farm incomes remain very low, particularly on the poorer farms. The system of remuneration for collective farmers was also modified in 1970 with a view to strengthening work incentives. The new method provides for monthly payments on account, in cash and in kind, based on the farms' planned annual receipts and for a share of profits in excess of those planned. Payment to individual members is to be based on centrally established work norms and rates of pay for various categories of operations, similar to the practice in industry and construction. The system is intended to relate individual remuneration more closely to the quantity and quality of the work performed and thereby to eliminate inequities of the earlier method. It is also meant to provide a steady and assured income to all members who contribute a specified minimum of workdays per month. If, for reasons beyond its control, a farm's receipts turn out to be lower than the amount legally distributed to its members during the year, the shortage may be covered by a long-term bank credit. As a further inducement for farmers to remain on the land, their social security benefits, generally much lower than those of industrial workers, were substantially liberalized. The extent to which the new pay system has been put into practice is not known. Effective January 1, 1971, a minimum wage of 300 lei (for value of leu, see Glossary) per month was to be paid to all male farmers who worked regularly at least twenty days and to all women who worked fifteen days. A survey published by a collective farm organ in March of that year found that within a single county twenty-one out of twenty-two farms had not taken the trouble to forward the necessary documents to the Agricultural Bank and apply for the funds with which to pay their members. Various excuses were offered by the farm chairmen for their lack of action. The chairmen, farm directors, and brigade leaders, however, were reported to have taken appropriate steps to secure their own minimum pay.