News & Events in Belarus

Lukashenko: Belarus needs to crop at least 9.5m tonnes of grain this year

NESVIZH DISTRICT, 27 July (BelTA) – This year’s harvest, including maize, should make up at least 9.5 million tonnes, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said during his working trip to Nesvizh District on 27 July, BelTA has learned.

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

“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.

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

“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.

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.

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

print version

make home page

add to bookmarks