A program to support private farming households of villagers for 2010 will be developed in the Vitebsk region

January 28, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. A program to support private farms of villagers for 2010 will be developed in the Vitebsk region. This proposal by the Chairman of the Regional Council of Deputies, Alexander Atyasov, was supported today by the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, reports a BELTA correspondent. The necessity of this is due to the steady trend towards a decrease in livestock and agricultural production on private farms. As noted by the Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, Alexander Kosinets, one cannot blame everything on the demographic situation in the countryside; there are also shortcomings in organizational work. For example, new houses in the countryside are often commissioned without basements, without sheds for keeping livestock. "A person does not feel like an owner: the house does not belong to him, he has no land, rural children do not know the basics of peasant labor," the governor added emotionally. "Peasants need to be instilled with a sense of ownership," Alexander Kosinets is confident. "Of course, no one will be forced to keep a household, but if a person wants to, he should be helped." Alexander Atyasov recalled that local councils are doing a lot to stimulate private farms. Despite the fact that over the past 10 years, the number of cows on private farms has decreased from 105 thousand to 35 thousand heads, milk purchases have tripled thanks to the work of rural councils and private entrepreneurs. According to Alexander Atyasov, the program should provide for the supply of young livestock to those who wish, the organization of purchases of surplus agricultural products, the provision of feed and seeds, and assistance in harvesting. According to the regional agricultural production department, the growth rate of agricultural production in private farms in 2009 did not reach the level of 2008. -0-