The forest seed complex will open in the Vitebsk region at the end of October

Construction of a greenhouse complex for growing planting material with a closed root system has been completed at the Glubokoye Experimental Forestry (Vitebsk region) using loan funds from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The grand opening ceremony will take place at the end of October, the press service of the Ministry of Forestry reported.

The new greenhouse complex will specialize in growing European spruce planting material with a closed root system. The design capacity is 2.4 million seedlings per year when using F35 type cassettes. In the future (when switching to FD64 type cassettes), the annual productivity of the complex may increase to 3.2 million. The construction of the facility was carried out on the territory of the existing permanent forest nursery. The greenhouse complex consists of a production building, which will house a sowing workshop, a cassette storage warehouse, and sanitary and domestic premises, as well as seven greenhouses with automated irrigation, ventilation, and heating systems, and eight growing-on fields equipped with ramp irrigation systems.

The new facility also includes refrigeration chambers for storing planting material, a substrate storage warehouse, a water treatment station, a storage pond, and two artesian wells. In April 2015, an agreement on a loan for the "Development of the Forest Sector of the Republic of Belarus" project was signed between the Government of Belarus, represented by the Ministry of Forestry, and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The IBRD provided a loan of $40.714 million. These funds were invested in the construction of modern forest seed centers for growing planting material with a closed root system, and the purchase of necessary machinery and equipment.

In the spring of 2018, the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank, having studied the progress of the project implementation, decided to allocate an additional loan of 12 million euros. More than 90 forestry institutions in the country are participating in the "Development of the Forest Sector of the Republic of Belarus" project. The first forest seed complex for growing

of planting material with a closed root system was opened in April this year at the Ivacevichi forestry of the Brest region.

BELTA.