MINSK, 8 September (BelTA) – Vegetable production in Belarus fully meets the domestic market needs, head of the trade and public catering department of the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade (MART) Mikhail Zhigalo said at a press conference on 8 September, BelTA has learned.
“I would like to say that the production of vegetables fully meets the needs of the domestic consumer market. According to our estimates, the annual demand for vegetables through all channels of sales is less than 50% of the production output by agricultural organizations and farms,” said Mikhail Zhigalo.
Fresh fruit and vegetable products are sold through four main channels. These are retail facilities, agricultural and mixed markets, fairs and specially designated areas, stabilization funds. “Plans are in place to stock 26,900 tonnes of potatoes, 35,700 vegetables and 8,000 tonnes of apples in the stabilization funds for the current off-season period. These are preliminary volumes. They can be further adjusted,” Mikhail Zhigalo said.
According to deputy head of the main department of crop production of the Agriculture and Food Ministry Tatiana Karbanovich, there is a significant decrease in the amount of products stockpiled for the off-season period 2020/2021, in comparison with the previous off-season. “Most of the products now come directly from farmers, agricultural organizations. The issue of how to manage stabilization funds has been discussed repeatedly. The ministry made a proposal to buy products from agricultural producers for the off-season period. Agricultural organizations have a lot of storage issues and its costs in particular. It is necessary to work out a common solution that would be beneficial to all,” she stressed.
In his words, a plan of action was approved in early August to provide the population with fresh fruit and vegetable products of the 2020 harvest. The plan provides for priority supplies of products to the domestic market, the organization of agricultural fairs, the expansion of places of sale, the creation of working groups to monitor the readiness of vegetable storages. The plan also envisages control and analytical activities in retail stores. “We believe that the implementation of this plan will help boost sales of high-quality Belarusian products at reasonable prices on the consumer market,” Mikhail Zhigalo added.
In 2019, an interdepartmental working group was set up to control the market saturation with food products, including seasonal ones. In September-October 2020, its activities will be focused on the issues of fruit and vegetable products supply.
