Business news

MINSK, 31 July (BelTA) – In a 5 years’ time Belarus’ domestic demand for greenhouse vegetables should be met in full, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said during his visit to Minsk Vegetable Factory on 31 July, BelTA has learned.

“Let’s agree to have this issue settled within the next five years. We should build a necessary number of them with the use of the latest technologies,” the head of state said.

According to Alexander Lukashenko, resources should be invested in the construction of greenhouses around Minsk. “Minsk should be provided with cheap greenhouse vegetables,” he said. In his words, vegetables and fruits grown near Minsk will be delivered to the retail network of the Belarusian capital at the lowest delivery costs.

Alexander Lukashenko asked how many more greenhouses are needed so that Belarus could give up on vegetable imports. He was reported that the country needs to produce 377,000 tonnes of greenhouse products more.

Annually the agricultural organizations and individual farms of the country produce more than 560,000 tonnes of vegetables, including almost 115,000 tonnes in greenhouses. There are 21 major greenhouse farms with a total area of winter greenhouses at nearly 250 hectares. Over the past 10 years 110.5 hectares of energy-saving greenhouses have been commissioned. As a whole, the production of greenhouse vegetables rose 1.7 times in 2014 over 2005. The winter greenhouses grow 15 varieties of crops, particularly cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, bell peppers, lettuces, arugula, basil, celery, dill, parsley, coriander, sorrel and other green crops.

According to the National Statistics Committee, as of 1 July the country produced 61,300 tonnes of greenhouse vegetables. Some 10,500 tonnes of them was exported.