MINSK, 18 July (BelTA) – Belarus is planning to harvest approximately 11 million tonnes of grain, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said during a conference call on 18 July to discuss harvesting, BelTA has learned.
“According to the government, the projected gross grain harvest in bunker weight may reach around 11 million tonnes, which is exactly what we need. This is what is currently in the fields and needs to be harvested without any losses,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed.
At the same time, the State Control Committee, the Prosecutor General’s Office, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs informed the president that some regions were not well prepared for the harvest season. For instance, grain harvesters and drying complexes remained inoperable.
Some of the repaired harvesters have not passed technical inspection, which, according to the president, leads to increased workload on the few functioning machines.
“Grain harvesters are not operational on nearly one out of three inspected farms across the country. Some organizations have not even started repairs due to a lack of spare parts and skilled operators. Several agricultural enterprises have not prepared storage facilities to receive the harvest. In many cases, fuel and spare parts have not been properly secured, which could lead to loss of productive time. Once again, we continue to struggle with false reporting. In 5% of the inspected farms, equipment was declared ready only on paper. Who are these people trying to deceive?” Aleksandr Lukashenko outlined the challenges.
According to the head of state, the harvesting campaign has just begun, but the State Control Committee has already identified cases of poor-quality harvesting. Violations were recorded in individual farms in Svisloch District and Soligorsk District. A similar situation is occurring with fodder preparation, where low grass harvesting rates are due to malfunctioning equipment. In many farms, nitrogen fertilization of perennial grasses was not carried out on time.
As of 14 July, the first cutting of perennial grass in Vitebsk Oblast was still unfinished on nearly 20,000 hectares. The president inquired about the causes of that and which farms are struggling to cope with the work.
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