NAROVLYA DISTRICT, 29 April (BelTA) – It is necessary to restore and maintain reclaimed lands in good condition, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said as he met with residents of Narovlya District on 26 April, BelTA has learned.
“There is a problem with keeping these arable [previously reclaimed] lands because nature is taking them back. Nature is fighting with us and wants to take these lands back. And I want specialists in land reclamation to restore those lands in regions where we did not manage to keep them in good condition. We do not plan to dewater more marshes,” the head of state said.
The president explained that Belarusian specialists are restoring those lands when they have enough funds for it. There is no need to move further yet. “We get $5.5 billion from the sales of products. Perhaps, we could get more. We will think about it after the pandemic, if it will be necessary. It is not that easy to sell products as we need to penetrate new markets. You see how Russia is blocking our sales. But when these times came [the outbreak of the pandemic], there was a request to restore the trade. But we are not getting stuck on one country,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
Therefore, before investing huge funds in land reclamation and the exploration of new lands, we need to decide what to produce and where to sell those products, the head of state noted. “Land reclamation was in full swing some time ago. Now we need invest more money in the restoration of previously reclaimed lands. It's hard to say whether we did everything right back then. Probably, land reclamation was unnecessary and caused drought in certain places,” he said.
