MINSK, 29 November (BelTA) - Belarus' agricultural industry looks set to outperform the five-year average in 2021, Belarus' Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Subbotin said at a joint meeting of the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic in the Oval Hall of the House of Government on 29 November, BelTA has learned.
"The weather was more favorable in 2020 than in previous years. The production in terms of basic crops was high and in terms of grass fodder even record-high, which enabled us to ensure a one-and-a-half year supply of it. Yet, this year we had a cold spring and an abnormally hot summer. So farmers did not achieve last year's indicators for a number of crops. However, if we compare this year's results with the five-year average, then the agricultural industry looks set to perform better this year that it did in the five-year period on average," said Aleksandr Subbotin.
For example, the gross harvest of grain and leguminous crops in weight after processing averaged 7,332,000 tonnes for the past five years In 2021 it was 7,460,000 tonnes, up by 2% of the five-year average. The output of rapeseed amounted to 720,000 tonnes in 2021, or up by 38% of the five-year average.
"Since the beginning of the year, milk production has expanded by 1%, cattle industry – by 1.2%. For objective reasons, the pork and poultry production reduced slightly. This year the production of corn was higher than last year (by 54.6%) and that of sugar beets by almost 3%," the deputy prime minister said.
In January-October, agricultural organizations and farms produced almost 6,400,000 tonnes of milk, almost 540,000 tonnes of cattle, 371,000 tonnes of pork, 550,000 tonnes of poultry, and 2,481,000 eggs.
“In January-October of this year, the food and beverage production rose by 1.8% year-on-year on the heels of the growing output in the meat processing and meat-containing sectors. The production of dairy, flour and cereals went up by almost 3%, that of vegetable and animal oils and fats by 2.5%,” Aleksandr Subbotin added. “This year, the food grain procurement order has been fulfilled, which means that the domestic market will be fully supplied with rye and wheat flour, barley and oatmeal groats.”
