Working trip to Nesvizh District

Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko paid a working trip to Nesvizh District on 27 July to inspect the progress in the harvesting campaign.

In Nesvizh District, Aleksandr Lukashenko visited the Novaya Zhizn agricultural enterprise where he was briefed on the progress in the harvesting campaign in Minsk Oblast and the country as a whole. The president inspected the progress in harvesting winter wheat in a field where the yield reaches 100 cents per hectare.

This year the harvest, including maize, should make up at least 9.5 million tonnes, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted. “When we are talking about the crop of 8 million tonnes, we mean cereals. Maize will give us another 1.5 million tonnes. Thus, 9.5 million tonnes is a minimum we need to crop this year. We can do it,” the head of state said.

“We need to keep in mind that such weather will prevail in the coming days. There will be more rain, and this is good. Apart from grain, we have vegetables and maize on our fields. We also need more grass to make hay. It needs moisture. The weather is really good. We need to use every good opportunity for fieldwork. We have enough equipment for this,” the president said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko also emphasized the need to pay good salaries for rural workers.  

According to Agriculture and Food Minister Ivan Krupko, some 19% of the areas under grain and leguminous crops have been harvested so far. The average yield is 37.6 centners per hectare. “The yield shows that we will be able to crop 8.1 million tonnes of grain this year. Some 89% of areas with colza have been cropped as well,” the minister said.

He also reported on the availability of equipment and fuel. There are no problems with farm machines. Several hundred combines have been allocated for the needs of the country's farmers this year. Some of them have already been delivered, and some will will be supplied in the coming days and will also join the harvesting campaign. Technically, it is possible to harvest grain crops within 21 sunny days, 4.5-5% of the grain crop area per day.

As for fuel, Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that farmers should count on themselves in this regard. “No requests. Count on yourself for the time being. Today there is a good harvest, colza harvest is good, so sell. If you have to borrow money, then we will lend. But it is too early today to say that we will take fuel from the reserves or other places to give it to you. Work until 15 August, and then we will see," the president said.

“We need to focus on the harvest season now. The election campaign is secondary to this,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.

The head of state said that whoever is at the post of the president or governor, bread is always of crucial importance for the country. “God save us all from what happened in the 1990s. I have already talked about the time when Minsk had flour stocks only for three days. We need to do our best to harvest the crop and restore the reserves,” the head of state said.

Aleksandr Lukashenko set the target for Minsk Oblast. “Two million tonnes [of grain] is your minimum for today,” said the president addressing Minsk Oblast Governor Aleksandr Turchin.

In his words, getting a good harvest is profitable for farmers themselves as the more they harvest, the more they earn. “The best buyers are meat and milk producers,” the head of state said.

During a working trip to Nesvizh District on 27 July Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko visited a modern milk-processing enterprise – OOO Nesvizh Baby Food Plant. Aleksandr Lukashenko went on a tour of the processing facilities, was made familiar with the process flow and with the company’s financial and economic performance indicators.

Aleksandr Karanik, Chairman of the Board of Directors of OOO Nesvizh Baby Food Plant, said that the plant had been built from scratch in an empty parcel of land. He recalled that the head of state once told the private sector that it is much easier to privatize an existing enterprise but starting a business from scratch is the mark of a true businessman. Aleksandr Karanik said: “So, we’ve done it.” He remarked that there had been risks like in any commercial venture but they were incomparable to the risks the country’s leadership takes as it makes decisions. “You have no room for errors,” Aleksandr Karanik told Aleksandr Lukashenko.

The president agreed that errors made by a head of state can be costly because decisions had to be well-adjusted although the government sometimes encourages certain risks. “Yes, risks are necessary, but one has to understand that an error may be costly. If you have a pipe that pumps oil, you sleep while it pumps oil and you get money, then you can take risks, you have money to repay,” the head of state noted.

Aleksandr Lukashenko was able to appreciate the high quality of products made by Nesvizh Baby Food Plant by sampling them.