In many post-Soviet countries, more than half of all households use small land plots to produce signi cant agricultural output even though their members have paid jobs or collect state pensions. Existing studies suggest that in Russia such second agriculture helps smooth consumption. Using household survey data, the author studied the role of second agriculture in Belarus and Ukraine, two countries that differ signi cantly in the coverage of their social safety nets. The author found that while in Belarus small land plots do help smooth consumption of the poorest households (during the 1998 crisis), Ukrainian poor appear to be unable to invest sufficiently in their small land plot production to produce similar bene ts. Most urban households use their small land plots for leisure, and over years they tend to move away from this activity.