Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 10 November (BelTA) – This year has been successful for the Belarusian agricultural industry, Agriculture and Food Minister Leonid Zayats told the media after the meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on 10 November, BelTA has learned.

“The current year has been successful for the agricultural industry. In January-October, the gross output rose by 2.9% in all categories of farms, by 3.8% in state-run agricultural enterprises,” Leonid Zayats noted.

According to the data for January-September, the production of milk increased by 153,000 tonnes, that of meat by 42,000 tonnes. The number of livestock has grown: cattle by 60,000 head, pigs by 63,000, poultry by 2,6 million.

This year saw an increase in the yield of sugar beet. Its gross harvest totaled 4.87 million tonnes, 620,000 tonnes above last year's level. The canola crop totaled 710,000 tonnes, which is twice as much compared to last year.

“In 2018 we will aim to ramp up the production of milk and meat and also vegetables,” Leonid Zayats said.

Leonid Zayats added that the harvesting was mostly completed by 7 November. Some 37,000 hectares of corn (4% of the total), 3,500 hectares of sugar beet (3.5%) and 55 hectares of vegetables still remain unharvested. The pace of harvesting is constrained by weather.

All this has an impact on the pace of fall ploughing: 35% of all areas remain unploughed. In this regard, the head of state set a task to mobilize all the technical and human resources to complete the fall ploughing as soon as possible.

During the meeting Alexander Lukashenko talked to every governor to discuss the results of the harvesting in regions. A number of issues was also on the agenda. The president noted the work of agricultural specialists. “The year has not been easy, we asked specialists and farmers for help. And they helped to harvest grain rather quickly and productively. Of course, we should thank people,” the head of state noted.

Plans have been made to convene a meeting at the start of next year to take stock of the past year, outline the prospects for the future and to honor the best employees of the agricultural sector.