MIKASHEVICHI, 5 October (BelTA) – Peasants were the ones to save the country in the complicated 1990s. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement during a solemn ceremony held as part of the Dazhynki 2024 harvest festival in Mikashevichi to honor agrarians, BelTA has learned.
The head of state recalled that more than a quarter of a century ago Dazhynki 1996, the first national harvest festival in the history of sovereign Belarus, took place in the Polesie area.
“Times were very complicated. The economy had collapsed. The countryside was absolutely poor. Production plummeted. Primarily the output of agricultural products. The lack of guidance was the most dreadful thing back then. We didn’t know what to do, where to go, which way to follow. In other words, confusion and vacillation. People, who are older, should be able to recall that we were virtually on the brink of an abyss back then. Some were already in the abyss. And we had two options. Fight for the right to live a free and decent life in our land by preserving it. Or for everyone to fall into the abyss and die,” Aleksandr Lukashenko recalled those times. “It was very difficult. Despite everything you actively helped me back then when I was a very green president. And your support and faith always inspired me. And we didn’t bend. We endured.”
The president reminded that they had to literally manually and little by little collect money to buy fuel, seeds, and fertilizers in order to allow agricultural enterprises to sow and harvest at least any crops.
“It may sound pompous but peasants saved the country back then. And we organized the first Dazhynki festival to honor working people. The festival became an anthem to praise hardworking people of the countryside, the hard and noble work of peasants. And we still follow this tradition after slightly changing its look,” the Belarusian leader said. “It is not surprising that over the years our Dazhynki festival has become a celebration for the entire country. It is truly a people’s festival. Because without bread there will be no songs, there will be nothing.”
“Life has demonstrated that we’ve chosen a strategy absolutely correctly. We identified food security as a priority of the state policy. The main priority. I intend to travel to all the oblasts in order to bow low to you and thank you, dear agricultural workers. You are more than food security. You are a pillar of our country. You’ve saved this country and you hold it on your shoulders in the most complicated times,” the head of state stressed.
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