MINSK, 11 November (BelTA) – Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko set short-term strategic and tactical tasks for the country's agricultural sector as he hosted a meeting with senior officials of the Council of Ministers in Minsk on 11 November, BelTA has learned.
First of all, the head of state mentioned autumn field works. For objective reasons, a small amount of corn and sugar beet remain unharvested. All in all, about nine million tonnes of crops have been harvested in the country this year. “This is a good harvest for this year. This amount will be enough to provide people with bread and bakery products, and there will be enough fodder for the livestock that we have and plan to have next year,” the president said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that prices for sugar, as well as for food in general, are quite high and this will help improve the financial health of agricultural companies. “We will have about four million tonnes of sugar beet. We will meet the domestic demand for sugar in full, which is about 350,000 tonnes. And about the same amount will be exported” the head of state said.
Following the earlier instructions of the president, autumn tillage has significantly intensified. “By now, nearly 80% of land will have been tilled. This is a good result, like never before, and we should not lose momentum,” he stressed.
By the way, Aleksandr Lukashenko paid special attention to the quality of tillage. It is about money after all. With good tillage the agricultural sector will be able to save time and money in spring when it is usually pressed for time. “Few agricultural companies care about the quality of tillage. I am talking about this because this is about finances. If tillage is badly done, it has to be re-done several times. And this increases costs three times,” the head of state explained.
Aleksandr Lukashenko also drew attention to the winter crop fertilization and instructed to use the winter period to get prepared, as much as possible, for spring planting, to get farm machines in order. The president called the last question tactical: "In winter, we need to select the maintenance centers which will deal with repairing large combine harvesters and tractors. The MTZ and Gomselmash engineering companies will help with maintenance and repairs. I asked the industry minister and the deputy prime minister to see to it that maintenance costs are minimal. Agricultural companies have no extra money to spare. The manufacturing is doing well this year, posting good profit.”
Land reclamation is a strategic task. "We need to address this issue comprehensively. This is the most important issue in agriculture. Preservation of soil fertility and land preservation in general is a sacred duty of the state,” the Belarusian leader emphasized. “It is necessary to determine all sources of financing for the winter. This is not pure land reclamation. It is the restoration of what has been neglected for years, decades. They dug out canals, put in drainage and abandoned this project altogether. Sixty years have passed, and nature has begun to take over these lands."
