MINSK, 29 May (BelTA) - We need to tackle the issue of cattle losses, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with the Council of Ministers on 29 May, BelTA has learned.
The head of state pointed out that the loss of cattle is a critical issue undermining the farming industry. "What does the data show? Mortality has hit a record high!" the president stressed.
The vice premier overseeing the agricultural sector and the agriculture minister have been chosen to report on the measures taken to resolve the problem.
Aleksandr Lukashenko, addressing Belarusian Prime Minister Aleksandr Turchin, who previously held the post of the chairman of the Minsk Oblast Executive Committee, emphasized that he should understand the essence of the issue and ways to address it better than anyone else. Moreover, the president has already outlined a simple and effective approach to resolving the cattle loss problem. He pointed out that some farms in Belarus have extremely low or even zero cattle losses, successfully handling both feeding and herd reproduction. Therefore, calves from farms in Vitebsk Oblast, Mogilev Oblast and other regions experiencing high mortality rates should be relocated to well-managed farms, with appropriate payment for them, to ensure proper care and feeding. "If young livestock are being lost, they should simply be moved to farms where they will be properly cared for, where conditions are good, and veterinarians are doing their jobs well," the president remarked.
"I want those present here, including the prime minister, the [agriculture] minister, and especially the vice premier, who has been told this several times, to explain whether this is the case everywhere," the president said. "The chairman of the State Control Committee and the prosecutor general, who oversee these issues, will report on how many people have been held accountable for this. Once again, I emphasize: as a country person who worked in agriculture, I simply cannot understand how one could allow the deaths of these young calves. How is this possible?"
It is particularly outrageous that veterinarians were involved in concealing the cattle losses. An urgent inspection conducted across the country, especially in Vitebsk Oblast, revealed that. "What did we discover? District veterinarians, instead of treating and preventing disease, were discussing with farm veterinarians ways to hide the cattle losses. This is appalling," Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked. "This is unacceptable. There must be criminal liability for this."
Since the cattle losses were not the main topic of the meeting, the president decided not to go into further detail, emphasizing that a separate in-depth discussion on the issue will take place. "We will address this later. I do not want this critical agricultural issue to be overshadowed by other agenda items," he stated.
It was previously reported that during a meeting with Brest Oblast Governor Piotr Parkhomchik, Aleksandr Lukashenko warned that this year the conversation on this issue will be extremely tough.
Aleksandr Lukashenko believes that such facts cannot be concealed, as it is very easy to reveal the truth through calculations. "Therefore, this will be a very serious and tough conversation. If we had prevented the loss of cattle, we would have seen much better results," he stated.
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