Opinions & Interviews

SHKLOV DISTRICT, 18 August (BelTA) - Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko spoke about the presidential field near his hometown and his childhood memories as he visited agricultural enterprises in Shklov District and Orsha District on 18 August, BelTA has learned.

The field is located in two regions at once - Mogilev Oblast and Vitebsk Oblast.

According to Alexander Lukashenko, he worked on this field from an early age, and that he has two most vivid recollections. “First, when I was leading a horse weeding a potato field. The field was divided into three parts. It was noon, the heat was incredible, lots of flies…,” he said.

“And then I remember hilling a potato field (the second impression) while my younger cousin was leading the horse. He was shorter than me and had to walk holding his hands up to lead the horse,” Alexander Lukashenko shared his memories.

“The impressions were not quite good for those days but very useful for the present day,” the Belarusian leader added.

The head of state said that today the field occupies about 500 hectares and that some time ago he decided to turn it into an experimental field to cultivate different crops.

This year the president has instructed to sow the field with foreign varieties of winter wheat and hybrid diploid rye to see their quality and the yield. All technological processes have been observed. As a result, the yield reached 90-100 centners per hectare. The head of state noted that in previous years the field did not yield more than 13-17 centners per hectare.

Alexander Lukashenko asked about the achievements of the domestic breeders. “I would like to hear what we have achieved so far. I was told that we have no problems with wheat seeds. We have learned to cultivate our seeds and their yield and quality are on par with those of foreign varieties,” the president said.

The head of state was briefed on the latest advancements in the sector. Alexander Lukashenko was told that the domestically-bred seeds are of the same quality as their foreign analogues and even better in some regards.