A. Lukashenko: the harvest must be gathered at a rapid pace

August 11, Minsk /BELTA/. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko continued his working trip around the country's regions. On August 10, the head of state visited the Grodno district, BELTA was informed by the press service of the Belarusian leader. The President focused on the issues of the harvesting campaign, efficient agricultural production, as well as the production and processing of poultry meat using the latest technologies. From his helicopter, Alexander Lukashenko familiarized himself with the progress of harvesting in the Grodno region and was not entirely satisfied with what he saw. "I was not impressed by the Grodno region. I was psychologically prepared for the nearing end of harvesting, but I saw that too many fields were not harvested," said the head of state. "We are used to you, Grodno residents, always working quickly and efficiently. But here, the impression is average. I expected better," he added. The President once again emphasized the need for rapid harvesting rates. "We need to strive to harvest 6% per day - no less," he said. Currently, 38% of grain crops remain to be harvested in the Grodno region. The average yield in the region is 47.7 centners per hectare, which is at last year's level. According to Governor Vladimir Savchenko, this year the region plans to harvest 1.6 million tons of grain (excluding farms). It is expected that more corn will be harvested as well (250 thousand tons in 2008). In total, 4.8 million tons of grain have been harvested in Belarus. As noted by the Minister of Agriculture and Food, Semen Shapiro, the harvesting campaign has reached last year's level, despite starting a week later than last year. The President drew attention to the quality of Belarusian agricultural machinery and demanded that all existing problems be resolved. Alexander Lukashenko was informed about the failure to deliver 30 "Lida-1600" combine harvesters to farms in the Grodno region. The reason is the delay in the supply of components. "I was in the Gomel region, and there are no complaints about Gomel combine harvesters. But here, combine harvesters with German components. So why do they break down?" the President exclaimed. "Sort this out fundamentally," he added. Alexander Lukashenko expressed extreme dissatisfaction with the fact that the quality of some Belarusian combine harvesters, as well as grain dryers, is causing complaints. "There is a crisis today. Supplies to the domestic market are important to us. Why is substandard goods being supplied?" said the President and instructed the Governor of the Grodno region, Vladimir Savchenko, to thoroughly investigate this matter. The head of state visited the branches of OJSC "Grodno Hleboprodukt": SCPUP "Skidelskoye", SZAP "GrodnoBioProduct" and breeding poultry farm "Yubileiny". This form of large-scale production allows for a diversified economy, reorienting it to the production of more in-demand products in a timely manner. OJSC "Grodno Hleboprodukt" is a powerful agroholding with 31.5 thousand hectares of agricultural land, 4 pig breeding complexes, a large cattle fattening complex, and more than a dozen agricultural enterprises. For six months, the profit from products amounted to over Br205 billion. The main activity of the closed joint-stock company "GrodnoBioProduct" is the production of environmentally friendly vegetable oils, as well as high-protein feed additives. The enterprise includes a rapeseed processing workshop with a capacity of 30 thousand tons per year, a vegetable oil refining workshop with a capacity of 7.2 thousand tons per year, and a bottling workshop with a capacity of 9.6 million bottles per year. This is a high-tech enterprise with a full production cycle, from preliminary seed preparation to final oil purification and bottling in polymer containers. The enterprise has implemented advanced cold pressing technologies for oilseeds, and modern processes of physical refining and deodorization of vegetable oils have been mastered, which allows for the production of up to 950 tons of refined deodorized edible rapeseed oil. The President familiarized himself with the organization of rapeseed processing at "GrodnoBioProduct" and the technological process of rapeseed oil production. The head of state emphasized that the enterprise needs to be re-equipped with the latest equipment for processing this agricultural crop. The farm plans to increase rapeseed acreage, but Alexander Lukashenko noted that this should not be at the expense of other agricultural crops. During his visit to the breeding poultry farm "Yubileiny", the head of state focused on the issues of production, processing, and sale of poultry meat using modern technologies. The breeding poultry farm "Yubileiny" was attached to OJSC "Grodno Hleboprodukt" in the autumn of 2005. For 7 years, the poultry farm was unprofitable. At the time of attachment, its debts amounted to Br15.6 billion, and the average salary of employees was Br295 thousand. In a short period, reconstruction and restoration of production capacities were carried out here. Today, this branch of OJSC "Grodno Hleboprodukt" has a closed production cycle: it has an incubator for broiler chick production (with the capacity to incubate up to 24 million eggs per year), a broiler growing unit with a production capacity of about 25 thousand tons of meat per year, and a meat processing complex. At the end of 2008, a new poultry slaughter and processing workshop was built and commissioned, which is the only one in the region equipped with modern equipment from foreign companies, allowing for high-quality products. The capacity of the slaughter and processing workshop is 6 thousand broilers per hour, with a prospect of expansion to 12 thousand. In addition, the enterprise has the capacity for simultaneous storage of over 500 tons of meat in refrigeration equipment, which allows for the processing of poultry from other farms. The meat processing workshop of the breeding poultry farm "Yubileiny" is the only one in the Grodno region that jointly processes broiler meat, pork, and beef. High-quality own meat raw materials, free of genetically modified organisms, are used for production. The joint use of poultry meat, pork, and beef in production allows for the creation of combined products with high taste qualities, increasing production profitability to 25-30%, and diversification of processing enhances the economic stability of the enterprise. Currently, work is being completed on the installation of equipment for the production of air-dried and smoked sausages with a capacity of 20 tons per month. The range of products manufactured includes 60 items. In the near future, it is planned to introduce 40 new types of products into production. Overall, it is planned to increase the percentage of poultry meat processing from 24% to 70%. It is important that since its inclusion in OJSC "Grodno Hleboprodukt", the number of jobs has increased 2.5 times, reaching almost 1.2 thousand people, and the average salary at the enterprise has more than tripled. The President gave a satisfactory assessment of the work of this large-scale holding, noting that such a model can serve as a benchmark for the development of all agricultural enterprises in the country.-0-