LYUBAN DISTRICT, 23 May (BelTA) – During a working trip to Lyuban District of Minsk Oblast, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko spoke about an experiment to achieve a record-breaking potato harvest, BelTA has learned.
"Yesterday, we discussed a topic with Yuri Nazarov [Head of the Belarus President Property Management Directorate]. Aleksei [Kushnarenko, Minsk Oblast Governor], this topic is important for you," the president said. "We are conducting an experiment at the Voskhod farm. We planted potatoes and organized irrigation, either on 10 or 20 hectares, but we did it."
"We need to keep this in mind. We have a lot of rivers and lakes, yet there is a lack of moisture. So let's at least irrigate vegetables, potatoes. Maybe we will plant some fruit orchards and sell the produce, or perhaps build greenhouses or cultivate vegetables in open fields. We need to think about it," Aleksandr Lukashenko added.
"Yesterday, we discussed a topic with Yuri Nazarov [Head of the Belarus President Property Management Directorate]. Aleksei [Kushnarenko, Minsk Oblast Governor], this topic is important for you," the president said. "We are conducting an experiment at the Voskhod farm. We planted potatoes and organized irrigation, either on 10 or 20 hectares, but we did it."
The head of state explained that the expected yield is over 1,000 centners per hectare, whereas the average potato yield in Belarus is around 300 centners per hectare. "Yuri Nazarov learned about this irrigation system somewhere, and we built it. But the area yielding such a harvest is three times smaller. It is unbelievable," the head of state noted.
"We need to keep this in mind. We have a lot of rivers and lakes, yet there is a lack of moisture. So let's at least irrigate vegetables, potatoes. Maybe we will plant some fruit orchards and sell the produce, or perhaps build greenhouses or cultivate vegetables in open fields. We need to think about it," Aleksandr Lukashenko added.
It is worth noting that history has indeed seen similarly high potato yields. Such records were achieved as early as the mid-20th century in the Soviet Union. The highest potato yield in the world was achieved by Anna Yutkina, a brigade leader at a collective farm in Kemerovo Oblast. She harvested 1,414 centners of potatoes per hectare. This record, set in 1943, remains unbeaten to this day.
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