MINSK, 8 February (BelTA) – Belarus expects to reach $7 billion in the export of agricultural and food products in 2025, Aleksei Bogdanov, Head of the Central Office for Foreign Economic Activities of the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry, told a press conference on 8 February, BelTA has learned.
“Our task for 2021 is to increase agricultural export by 4.3% from 2020. The increase will amount to a little over $6 billion. This is a very large amount, and everyone has to fight for the markets, using various marketing tools and ways of promotion. If everything goes well with production and market conditions this year, we will cross this threshold. We expect $7 billion by 2025. This means we need to grow by more than $1 billion within five years,” said Aleksei Bogdanov.
As BelTA reported earlier, Belarus has approved the state program Agrarian Business for 2021-2025. It aims to improve the competitiveness of agricultural products and food, increase export potential, the development of aco-friendly agriculture focused on strengthening food security of the country, provide nutritious food and a healthy lifestyle for the population. Within the next five years there are plans to increase the efficiency of agricultural production through the introduction of resource-saving technologies that reduce material and labor costs, reduce production costs, improve the quality of products to maintain their competitiveness in domestic and foreign markets.
The plans also include strengthening the raw material base of agro-industrial production, modernization of existing and development of new competitive industries, digitalization of industries and sub-sectors of agriculture, development of breeding and genetics for the needs of sustainable agriculture. The state program is also aimed at the preservation, restoration and improvement of fertility, the rational use of agricultural land and the creation of favorable conditions for the development of entrepreneurship in agriculture.
It is expected that the implementation of the state program will ensure profitability of sales in agriculture at the level of not less than 10% by the end of 2025. Plans are also in place to increase exports by 21.3% from 2020.
