Belarus needs to maximize its agricultural production revenues amid rising global prices

August 13, Minsk /BELTA/. Belarus needs to maximize its income from agricultural production amid rising global prices. This was stated on August 13 by President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko during a working trip to the Minsk region, BELTA was informed by the press service of the Belarusian leader. "We need to get the maximum income from agricultural production in this situation. We are not hiding anything: we have no oil and gas, and they raise prices for them every year. Please, we also sell and want to get our happiness in this price, taking into account the rising prices of hydrocarbon raw materials and other cost components," Alexander Lukashenko said. The head of state noted: "We need to clearly agree with the Russians, the Ukrainians, who will buy feed for livestock, how much is needed, what kind, and 'ground' them to specific farms in Belarus, so that we don't inflate, don't press, and then don't know what to do with it." Alexander Lukashenko stressed the need for very thrifty use of feed. "A situation has developed where it may be profitable for us to sell something. Prices are rising for both grain and other types of agricultural products. Therefore, we need to have reserves and use them economically," the Belarusian leader noted. As the President stated, Belarus is ready to sell certain types of agricultural products abroad. Speaking about Russia, he said: "They pay, they have enough money, enough oil, enough gas. We are ready to help, to mow down their wastelands. Let them pay us for the work, for the depreciation of equipment and fuel, and we will roll it up and, if they need it, sell it." At the same time, the head of state noted that grain and products made from it will be sold only in exceptional cases. Compound feeds will also be sold in limited quantities for export. "Under no circumstances should we go overboard and sell something, as prices will rise even further. We need to sell dairy and meat products – this is our strategy, and we must proceed from this," the Belarusian leader emphasized. Good prices are also forming on world markets for many other types of products. In particular, this year Belarus has harvested a good crop of high-quality malting barley, while, for example, Russia, due to a poor harvest caused by difficult weather conditions, has a significant demand for this product. "This is a very good source of foreign currency income this year," said Alexander Lukashenko, noting that with good barley and malt, it is necessary to gain a foothold in new markets and establish long-term cooperation. A similar situation is developing with potatoes. In particular, requests for the supply of this product are already coming in from various regions of Russia and Ukraine. Tatarstan alone is ready to purchase up to 100,000 tons. High market prices are also forming for flax raw materials. In these conditions, Alexander Lukashenko instructed to develop a general strategy for promoting Belarusian agricultural products to foreign markets. He entrusted the pricing to Deputy Prime Minister Ivan Bambiza. "Monitor world prices and sell," said Alexander Lukashenko. One of the President's demands is also that purchase prices for agricultural products from the population should be increased in line with world prices. In particular, it was discussed that this year high prices for potatoes are forming on foreign markets – from Br800 per kg and more. "Let's agree that we will not deceive the peasants on potatoes. If the price on external markets is rising, and we will sell at Br1000 per kg, then the peasants should receive a good 'kopeck' for their products," said Alexander Lukashenko. He continued that the same approach should be applied to grain, if people sell it. "We should not be petty and lower the price for people. Let people earn this 'kopeck', and then we won't have to persuade them to keep household plots and take land. We need to buy all the potatoes from the population that they want to sell, and sell them on foreign markets," the head of state emphasized. Speaking about the need to maximize income from agricultural production in the current conditions of high world market prices, Alexander Lukashenko once again stressed that under no circumstances should peasants be offended in this regard. "If the price of grain, milk, and meat rises on external markets, you must increase the price for the peasants. This must be honest," the President added. As reported to the head of state by Minister of Agriculture and Food Mikhail Rusy, the grain harvest in Belarus, excluding corn, will be about 7 million tons this year. According to him, state farms will harvest 6.8 million tons, and the population and farmers – about 600,000 tons. In total, in barn weight, all categories of farms will have about 7 million tons. The harvesting of grain, excluding corn, in the republic is planned to be completed by the middle of next week. The pace of corn harvesting is also gradually increasing. The country's agrarians plan to harvest about 1 million tons of this crop. As reported to the President, the overall corn harvest is quite good, but there are losses due to weather in the Gomel region and in some places in the Mogilev region. In this regard, Alexander Lukashenko noted the need to explore options for helping the affected areas so that the livestock population does not decrease there, as corn is used as feed. The head of state was also informed about the pace of straw harvesting. According to Mikhail Rusy, 73% has already been harvested. At the same time, there is high demand for straw in Russia. As for potatoes, Belarusian agrarians expect a harvest of about 1 million tons in collective farms alone, not counting those grown on household plots. Next year, it is planned to expand the sown areas of this crop to obtain a harvest of about 1.5 million tons. At the same time, attention will be paid not only to production but also to processing. During his working trip, the head of state visited a seed plant in the Smolevichi district, the construction of which is nearing completion at the agro-industrial complex of RUP "Shipyany-ASK". The founder of the enterprise is the Scientific and Practical Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Agriculture. Addressing the scientists, the President noted that he would like to know how the technologies developed by them are applied in practice. "A few years ago, we agreed to transfer 5 farms to scientific centers and thus unite science and land. Five years have passed from idea to implementation. What has happened? That's what interests me. What is the result? How do scientists actually work on the land?" the head of state asked. The seed plant is a complex facility that includes grain reception, primary cleaning, drying, intermediate storage of seed material, seed sorting, and storage. The plant was designed as a standard model for other elite-producing farms. The uniqueness of this seed plant lies in the fact that it is the first complex in Belarus for the production of seeds of cereals, rapeseed, groats, and grasses, which allows for the storage and processing of the entire volume of grain produced on the farm. According to the Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Mikhail Myasnikovich, the plant was built using Belarusian technology based on the best world examples of similar production facilities. In the future, it is planned to build similar plants in all regions of Belarus, taking into account regional specifics. In total, 40 seed production and procurement plants are planned to be built in Belarus in 2011-2012. The President emphasized that unjustified excesses should not be allowed during the construction of the plants, but neither should they be stingy. He also demanded 100% utilization of future plants. The President was informed about the state of seed production in the country, the strategy for providing Belarus with high-quality domestic seeds, and the technological process of preparing seed material. However, the head of state was not entirely satisfied with what he heard. "I have been told about this for five years," he said. Alexander Lukashenko also ordered an audit of the effectiveness of all scientific and practical centers for agriculture of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. "We will seriously check all the centers that have been created. We need advanced results. They need to focus on large-scale commercial production," the head of state said. He also added that this check will be carried out in September-October, after all harvesting work is completed. Alexander Lukashenko noted that a special commission will analyze the work of the five scientific and production centers and check whether previously given instructions have been fulfilled. In addition, the President intends to personally familiarize himself with the work of these centers and draw conclusions about their effectiveness. He also recalled that at one time the centers were created with the aim of bringing science closer to production, so that scientists would practically deliver the results that should be expected on every farm and field in the future. "This is what we are doing. So far, I have good impressions, but I am not making final conclusions yet, I want to understand all these issues myself," the head of state said. Then Alexander Lukashenko visited the breeding reproduction farm of RUP "Zarechye" of the Scientific and Practical Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Animal Husbandry. The farm is designed to house 500 main sows and raise breeding young stock for breeding farms in the country. Practical work has already begun here on creating domestic high-performance meat pig genotypes capable of producing highly profitable, high-quality pork using resource-saving technologies. As noted, a system of selection work needs to be created in the country to produce competitive products. To achieve this, three tasks need to be addressed: providing new genetic material, new technologies, and training qualified personnel. Scientists have developed a system of pig breeding in Belarus. At the top of this peculiar pyramid is the selection and genetic center for pig breeding. At the first stage, the most acceptable and feasible option was the purchase of imported animals to stock the farm. In the future, based on new genetics, it will be possible to meet the demand of the industrial pig industry for competitive breeding young pigs to stock the republic's pig complexes. In addition, export supplies may also be possible. The system developed by Belarusian scientists will ultimately allow for the production of up to 580,000 tons of competitive pork per year. As reported to the President, with relatively small costs, the problem of transitioning the pig industry to a new intensive development path and obtaining high-quality commercial and breeding products competitive in both domestic and foreign markets will be effectively solved. Based on a sharp increase in productive qualities, scientists believe it is possible to obtain an additional 150,000 tons of pork using the same feed resources, which increases pork production by 40%. The topic of cattle breeding was also touched upon. The President was told that French specialists expressed a desire to work with their Belarusian colleagues in the direction of producing beef breeds of cattle. It is planned to develop a scientific program and organize production. The French side will assist in creating a breeding herd. They also noted with satisfaction that at the first stage, the Belarusian side has a complete feed base. At RUP "Zarechye," Alexander Lukashenko also visited an experimental pig farm-school. It is at this facility that the task of providing animal husbandry with highly professional, comprehensively trained personnel capable of adopting and implementing innovations in practice is being addressed. The technological concept and equipment of the experimental pig farm-school meet the standards of the best world training centers, have no analogues in the CIS countries, and are adapted to the production conditions of the republic. Approximately 15 main innovative technological solutions for animal husbandry have been applied at the farm-school, the combination of which allows for modeling over 180 variants of technological solutions that are promising for implementation in both reconstruction and construction of new enterprises. In addition, Alexander Lukashenko familiarized himself with new technological machine complexes and equipment of domestic production for resource-saving technologies in animal husbandry and crop production. During his working trip, the head of state also answered journalists' questions. In particular, commenting on Russia's decision to ban grain exports, the President of Belarus expressed the opinion that such a ban would soon be lifted. "I don't know what the situation is in Russia, they know best. But one must always define the goal. Not to export grain – what does that mean? To keep it for themselves? Why? I don't think Russia lacks grain today to feed its people. More than enough. I don't even think Russia will lack feed grain," the President said. "I think the Russian government will sense the slowdown in exports and will still open a crack to sell grain." Alexander Lukashenko noted that Russia has very high-quality wheat, which is expensive even today, and its price will increase in the future. "But Russia has a surplus of such wheat, people don't need that much," the head of state believes. "I think they will release it, and exports will go." At the same time, according to the Belarusian leader, the Russian government made an absolutely correct decision that, first of all, domestic needs for grain must be met. As for the third partner in the Customs Union – Kazakhstan, Alexander Lukashenko believes that this country will have some surplus products, albeit in smaller volumes than in previous years, which they will want to sell for export. The poor harvest this year has also affected this country, but Kazakhstan is more focused on crop production, wheat, and does not have a large livestock population that would require large volumes of grain for feed. Speaking about Belarus, the President emphasized that the country needs grain, first of all, to process it, obtain a value-added product, and then sell dairy and meat products at good prices, which are currently forming for these products. "We have very strong animal husbandry. And we balance here clearly: more livestock, more feed. We have managed to maintain this balance," the head of state said. Alexander Lukashenko believes that approaches to agriculture have already been formed in Belarus. At all levels, they know how to work with grain, and there is no need for the head of state to interfere in this process. As for weekly trips around the country, Alexander Lukashenko noted that they have long become traditional during the summer period, and this year they have only become more frequent. According to him, the reason for this is a kind of control to "make sure in the last year of the five-year plan, with our own eyes, that we have done everything we planned." As the President noted, "mostly not