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Winter barley, rapeseed viewed as promising crops for Belarus
MINSK, 21 July (BelTA) – Winter barley and rapeseed are promising crops, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said during a conference call to discuss the harvest progress on 21 July, BelTA has learned.
While explaining the advantages of winter barley for the Belarusian agricultural industry, the president said that he does not impose this crop on the entire country. There is no reason to draw parallels with the corn campaign by Nikita Khrushchev.
"I would like to emphasize that winter barley is not my invention. We have been cultivating it for a long time, but on a residual basis. We have never paid special attention to this crop. But we should if we decide to cultivate it," the Belarusian leader said.
Last year and this year were difficult for winter barley in Belarus. "This is a capricious crop. It does well where technologies are observed (this applies to any other crop, but above of all to winter barley)," the president said. “I think we should cultivate winter barley. It survived the difficult last year and this year and gave a good harvest." The yield reaches 70-100 centners/ha in some fields in Belarus.
An important factor in favor of the cultivation of this crop is the early harvest date, before the start of the mass campaign, which makes it possible to see how the equipment is doing, to get machine operators and other personnel into shape. "But we need iron-clad technology discipline and the appropriate selection of fields," the head of state said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko also positively assessed the prospects for rapeseed cultivation: "This is a good crop, and it needs to be cultivated. Both winter barley and rapeseed, especially winter barley, require the strictest adherence to technologies." Even with a yield of 35 centners/ha, winter rapeseed gives a very good income. "The Chinese are asking us to increase supplies of rapeseed oil. The Europeans, despite the sanctions, buy rapeseed oil from us. We must popularize it among our people. It is absolutely no worse than sunflower oil and in many respects it is even better," the president said.
At the same time, he stressed that he does not insist on the widespread cultivation of these crops. The feasibility should be assessed on the ground. "There is no need to put pressure on farmers saying that the president wants winter barley to be cultivated, as Nikita Sergeyevich once demanded to cultivate corn. He was right, though. Even here, in Belarus. Take this year for example. If there were no corn, things would be very difficult for us. Despite the dry weather, corn gives good yields in all fields. Therefore, today there is no need to throw accusations at the person who is long gone and who turned out to be right," Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
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