The first cooperative and integration structures have been created in the agro-industrial complex of the Vitebsk region

August 12, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. The first cooperative and integration structures in the agro-industrial complex of the Vitebsk region have been created on the basis of the Vitebsk Broiler Poultry Farm and the Polotsk Grain Processing Plant, Vasily Bereznyakov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Agriculture and Food of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, told a BELTA correspondent. The broiler poultry farm, interested in its own grain feed production, will be able to grow grain with the help of two agricultural enterprises by joining them. The grain processing plant, specializing in the production of compound feeds, will operate within a single structure with a pig-breeding complex. The process of establishing integration ties is being completed by the Vitebsk, Miory, Orsha grain processing plants and open joint-stock companies "Vitebsk Meat Processing Plant", "Glubokskoye Meat Processing Plant", "Lepel Dairy and Canning Plant". Two more cooperative and integration structures will be created on the basis of the "Yubileiny" and "Zadneprovsky" pig complexes by joining agricultural enterprises to them. By the end of 2009, 10 cooperative and integration structures will be formed in the Vitebsk region. According to Vasily Bereznyakov, the creation of a closed cycle from production to the sale of the final product is economically justified. Firstly, due to the reduction of taxation, the cost of production decreases, and interdepartmental costs are reduced. Secondly, large-scale production in a competitive environment has advantages that will allow for the formation of a unified pricing policy, optimization of costs, and the development of new sales markets, the specialist explained. The optimization and consolidation of agricultural enterprises continue in the Vitebsk region. This year, it is planned to reform 31 enterprises by joining them to other economic entities, including industrial enterprises. In 2003, there were 490 agricultural enterprises in the region; by the end of 2009, there will be 270. -0-