Lukashenko instructs to finish sowing quickly, highlights crop targets

SHKLOV DISTRICT, 12 April (BelTA) - Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko has instructed agricultural workers to finish sowing as quickly as possible and reminded them of this year’s crop targets. The head of state made the statement as he visited the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the agrotown of Yevdokimovichi in Shklov District on 12 April, BelTA has learned.

“Next week, we are promised warm weather. We need to finish sowing as quickly as possible so that things go well and the harvest is no less than last year. Last year, we set a bar and we cannot go below it,” said Aleksandr Lukashenko. In 2025, agricultural workers cropped over 11 million tonnes of grain, including rapeseed and corn, and this year the head of state set the task of harvesting no less than last year’s crop.

The president spoke with Chairman of the Shklov District Executive Committee Sergei Bartosh, and asked how things were going in the district. According to Sergei Bartosh, the sowing campaign is going well and is almost complete at this point, although the rains have caused some minor adjustments.

Speaking about the state of affairs in agriculture in Shklov District, the head of state drew attention to the need to provide housing for agricultural workers. “We need to build housing for them, rental housing, so that they can have children. So that our own people work here, not people from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Although they are very hardworking people. When I visited there, I thought: if we worked like that, we wouldn’t have any problems. But their land: 85% is mountains, only 15% is arable land. So every little patch is cultivated,” he remarked.