VITEBSK, 24 October (BelTA) - Livestock farming must not turn into criminal activity, and there must be severe personal consequences for failures, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a meeting in Vitebsk on 24 October. One of the main topics for discussion was the situation with the mortality of cattle in the country, BelTA has learned.
“The most important thing is that work in livestock farming cannot be turned into criminal activity. There must be the strictest personal accountability for failures. So far, no matter how much anyone tries to convince me otherwise, I see that you have not reversed this negative trend. The main problem is that you lack the most basic thing - discipline,” the Belarusian leader emphasized.
Aleksandr Lukashenko identified this issue as one of the most pressing in agriculture. From January to September, the mortality rate across the country reached 108,000 head, which is overall 5% lower than last year's level. At the same time, 51 districts in the country reported an increase in mortality, with 13 of them seeing a rise of one and a half times or more. Furthermore, the norms approved by the Agriculture and Food Ministry are being exceeded almost everywhere.
“Listen, you came up with some kind of mortality norms. Fine, you came up with norms. I never pressured you on this. You sat down, together with scientists, and derived these ‘justified standards’. You approved them. So why aren't you meeting them? You set these targets for yourselves. Why aren't you meeting them? How am I supposed to react?” the head of state said.
Vitebsk Oblast recorded a significant increase in mortality (up 39%, or 16,000 head) with Grodno Oblast (15,000 head) in second place, which the president called surprising. “It is astounding. It's headed by a general [Grodno Oblast Governor Yuri Karayev],” the head of state said.
In his words, Grodno Oblast is beginning to worry him in many respects. On this point, the president recalled that this also included the “failings” of the region's former governor Vladimir Karanik, who now heads the National Academy of Sciences.
“The shortcomings in Vitebsk Oblast, which the State Control Committee reported to me with photographs, is typical for the entire country. That is why all the governors are here. Instead of concrete work and at least small, but real, positive shifts, you continue to engage in falsifying records and fabricating information,” the president reproached. “There seems to be fodder, but it is universally low-quality, with violations detected in every fifth agricultural organization in half of the country's districts. Instead of haylage, your records show ‘rotten stuff’.”
The president also expressed disapproval regarding the veterinary sector: “You've been fooling around to the point where some farms aren't conducting vaccinations at all, while others are treating animals with expired veterinary drugs. What are you doing? Instead of medicine, you are injecting calves with poison - expired drugs. Is that normal? Your veterinary staff, instead of performing their direct duties, are inventing new ways to conceal livestock mortality.”
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