Press releases

20 Apr 2019

Belarus-Tajikistan Friendship Garden laid out in Brest District

BREST, 20 April (BelTA) – The work to lay out a Belarus-Tajikistan Friendship Garden in OAO Ostrometchevo, Brest District, was completed on 20 April, BelTA has learned.

The event coincided with the nationwide clean-up day in Belarus. Members of the Belarusian-Tajikistan intergovernmental commission, heads of regional and district executive authorities, enterprises took part in the clean-up day.

The project has been implemented on the instructions of the presidents of Belarus and Tajikistan. Some 6,000 seedlings of various fruit trees were delivered from Tajikistan to Belarus. The garden will occupy 10 hectares, three hectares of which will be a vineyard. It will feature seven table grape varieties of Tajik selection. Tajikistan Agriculture Minister of Sattori Izzatullo described them as “most delicious”. According to him, the harvest can be expected already in three to four years. The remaining seven hectares will be planted with three varieties of apples, cherries and apricots. During the first two years Belarusian and Tajikistan specialists will provide scientific support to the garden.

“I think our varieties will do well. Climatic conditions in Brest Oblast are similar to those of the near-mountain regions of Tajikistan. In the future we plan to expand our lineup of varieties in Belarus. This autumn we will lay a garden with Belarusian varieties in Tajikistan,” Sattori Izzatullo said.

In terms of gardening Brest District is one of the most developed in Brest Oblast: gardens occupy about 1,000 hectares here, including 300 hectares in OAO Ostrometchevo. The new garden has been set up in place of an old one which was uprooted two years ago. The soil here was planted with intermediate crops. Necessary mineral and organic fertilizers were introduced before the new seedlings were planted.

“Grapes storability is high. It is kept throughout the winter in storage warehouses similar to ours. This is why we will, first of all, sell the fruit domestically to reduce the imports,” Brest Oblast Governor Anatoly Lis said. In general, fruit farming has been actively developing in the region. “These are not only agricultural companies. We have a lot of farmers too,” the governor said.

Belarus’ Agriculture and Food Minister Anatoly Khotko stressed that not only climate has recently changed. So has the eating habits of Belarusians. Today they prefer more fresh fruit and vegetables. “We have enough apples. We need to take a look at the products we import. We encourage our agricultural producers to provide our people with both traditional and new varieties of fruit and vegetables throughout the year. We will be working to diversify the availability of fruit and vegetables for Belarusians,” Anatoly Khotko said.

There are 40,000 hectares of commercial gardens in Belarus. Annually, up to 500 hectares of orchards is planted as part of the national Fruit Farming program. Last year the country had a record high harvest of 146,000 tonnes of fruit and berries.