Business news

Lukashenko suggests building poultry breeding and genetics center

MINSK, 16 April (BelTA) – Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko suggested creating a modern poultry breeding and genetics center as he hosted a meeting to discuss rural development and efficiency of the agricultural sector, BelTA has learned.

Characterizing the situation in the poultry industry as a whole, the president pointed to a slight increase in poultry production and a drop in egg production. At the same time, poultry mortality has increased by almost 12%. The highest mortality rate was reported in Mogilev Oblast and Gomel Oblast. The reasons are non-compliance with the technology of maintaining poultry houses and veterinary and sanitary rules, as well as the lack of good feed.

“Our poultry industry is still dependent on the import of breeding stock. Therefore, the key task here is to reduce this reliance dramatically,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. “We also have no alternative to imported chickens for the production of hatching eggs.”

The head of state recalled that he had previously told the Council of Ministers to build a modern breeding and genetics facility for eggs. The government proposed creating such a center on the basis of Agrokombinat Dzerzhinsky.

“Before making a final decision, we must discuss our options with heads of specialized enterprises. This is a common problem. Everyone will need to invest a lot of money. I have one question: why not set up a stand-alone enterprise that will be independent from  poultry farms?” asked Aleksandr Lukashenko. He wanted to figure out whether or not it might lead to the conflict of interests. The president gave an instruction to discuss this topic and reach a concrete decision.

According to the president, the strategic task is to ensure technological and biological protection of poultry farming, to increase the output to 800,000 tonnes of poultry meat and 4 billion eggs.

print version

make home page

add to bookmarks