Vitebsk cooperators paid the population about Br26 billion for vegetables, fruits, and berries handed over

September 30, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Consumer societies of the Vitebsk regional union of consumer societies paid about Br26 billion to the population for vegetables, fruits, and berries handed over. Compared to the same period last year, payments increased by 14.7%, the first deputy chairman of the Vitebsk regional union of consumer societies, Viktor Shulyak, told a BELTA correspondent. This season, procurement agents collected more than 600 tons of blueberries, exceeding last year's figure by 11%, and about 30 tons of mushrooms. With the onset of rains, mushroom procurement will proceed at a higher pace, Viktor Shulyak is confident. However, the pace of apple procurement is almost 1.5 times ahead of last year's - 23 thousand tons have been procured. Cooperators also have blueberries in their stores - about 30 tons, and lingonberries - 77 tons. Cranberry procurement has begun. More than 1 ton of cucumbers has been collected from the population. In total, cooperators have stored, salted, and pickled 270 tons of cucumbers. Almost all district consumer cooperation organizations have purchased shock freezing chambers for berries, thanks to which frozen forest gifts will appear in the retail network in winter. As Viktor Shulyak noted, the procurement of potatoes and vegetables for winter storage is in full swing. 400 tons of blueberries have been supplied for export by cooperators. -0-