Posted: 29.08.2022 13:08:00

Lukashenko directs farmers to accelerate pace of winter crops sowing

Receiving a report from Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee Aleksandr Subbotin, the President of Belarus warned that one should not mindlessly chase the gross indicators of grain

Photo: www.belta.by

“As people say, we are obsessed with these grains, with these 11 million tonnes. We can get more than 11 million tonnes this year. But the question is: is it necessary to do this? Because we can get up to 11 or more at the expense of corn, but now this is a dangerous trend,” Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasised.

“We have enough grain: rapeseed, spiked cereals, and corn, let alone buckwheat and millet. We have enough of this now to provide our people, feed livestock and have a small reserve. We have grain. If we now harvest all the corn for grain, then half of the farms will have nothing to feed their livestock except for grain. Therefore, today it is necessary to start harvesting corn, even in the Vitebsk Region, especially burnt areas, for silage.”

Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that he personally visits the field and observes the process of grain formation in corn, “I watch almost every day and I see good grain. If we remove the green mass of corn and grain in cobs, we well preserve haylage or silage pits, we will get good fodder this year. Therefore, we need to carefully approach this on the spot.”

The Head of State noted that the chairmen of the district executive committees and heads of farms should deal with tactics and strategy locally, “It’s your control so that we don’t go too far in terms of the fact that we got a million tonnes of grains, so we now need one and a half. No, you need as much as you need, especially now. This is not the last year, when we received a little more than six million tonnes of grains, it was a lean year. This year is not bad, it is above average. This must be borne in mind.”

According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, if it rains well, it will be possible to wrap haylage made of alfalfa or other herbs in foil.

The Head of State also drew attention to the acceleration of the pace of sowing winter crops, since the Vitebsk Region (and not only it) is in the zone of risky farming. Therefore, you should sow quickly, especially rapeseed and cereals.

“To do this, it is necessary to quickly clean the fields after harvesting and prepare them for sowing. How are things here?” Aleksandr Lukashenko asked.

The second topic of conversation is the work of integration structures in the agro-industrial complex.

“After we conducted a detailed debriefing [at a meeting on the work of agro-industrial associations of the Vitebsk Region in Postavy on August 5th, 2022], we nevertheless shook up the Vitebsk Region at one time, people understood everything and have done well” Aleksandr Lukashenko noted.

Another topic that the Head of State discussed with the Vitebsk Region Governor is pharmaceuticals and biotechnologies, “It so happened that we decided to produce our own vaccines. How are things going with the development of our main enterprise Belvitunipharm?”