MINSK, 3 June (BelTA) – New season potatoes will be delivered stores across Belarus in the coming weeks, Belarusian Agriculture and Food Minister Yuri Gorlov told the media at the ongoing international expo Belagro 2025 on 3 June, BelTA has learned.
“Last year, we grew about 780,000 tonnes of potatoes. Our country's needs are 78,000-90,000 tonnes of potatoes per year. The rest is exported,” Yuri Gorlov said.
This year, Belarusian farmers planted potatoes on an area of 21,000 hectares. “Taking into account the farmers who grow potatoes, we plan to harvest about 1 million tonnes of potatoes this year. This will be enough for both domestic consumption and exports,” the minister emphasized.
Imported potatoes account for a small percentage of the potatoes available in Belarusian stores, he added. “We have enough of our own potatoes, early potatoes, which we planted in April. The weather made some minor adjustments. Due to frosts, vegetation did not proceed at the pace it should. We are now starting to harvest our Belarusian potatoes, which will meet the needs of our entire domestic market,” the minister said, adding that the new crop of potatoes will be available in stores in the coming weeks.
Agricultural organizations had to complete work on mitigating the effects of spring frosts by 1 June. “We coped with the task. As for vegetables in general - potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, we will have a sufficient quantity of them. The only problem is that frosts had a negative impact on apples. In June, we will see what harvest we will have this year and decide on additional food imports,” Yuri Gorlov said.
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