Potato production in Belarus will be increased

August 23, Tolochin District /Olga Belyavskaya - BELTA/. Potato production in Belarus needs to be increased, stated Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich today during an on-site meeting of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers in the Tolochin District, a BELTA correspondent reports.

It is expected that the sown areas will be expanded for both food potatoes and potatoes for technical purposes. Mikhail Myasnikovich noted that as soon as early potatoes appear, even with high starch content varieties, they are mainly sold at retail for food purposes. At the same time, small, cut, and damaged potatoes are supplied to starch factories due to an unbalanced pricing policy. "As a result, there is no profitability, no economy at the starch factories, they are not developing," the Prime Minister stated. In this situation, it is necessary to import starch from other countries, including for the food industry. In this regard, the Prime Minister noted the need to revise the pricing policy for potatoes for technical purposes. At the same time, he emphasized that the starch produced should be modified and suitable for use in the confectionery, baking, and even medical industries.

To fulfill all these tasks, the main thing is to ensure high potato preservation during the off-season. Mikhail Myasnikovich also drew attention to the need for farmers to obtain high-quality seed potatoes. According to the head of government, producers must clearly understand the entire production chain of this crop - who is involved in primary seed production, who is involved in propagation, etc. "Such a system is established by a government decree, and if it is followed, everything will be fine, then not only farms but also the population can use these seeds," said the Prime Minister. He also added that if high-quality seed potatoes are supplied to personal subsidiary plots, the production volumes of quality potatoes may increase.

The Prime Minister drew attention to another problem – damage to potato fields by pests and diseases. This also requires a solution in the near future. "We need to conduct a kind of campaign to eradicate wireworms and the like, then we will be able to produce high-quality potatoes and sell them both in domestic and foreign markets," he said.

According to Mikhail Myasnikovich, domestic producers should work more actively on increasing the volumes of deep processing of potatoes, obtaining semi-finished products from them, as well as various finished products – chips, mashed potatoes, etc.

The head of government expressed confidence that the demand for potatoes in the domestic market will grow this year, and in this regard, it is necessary to revise the volumes of potato supplies to stabilization funds upwards.

The Prime Minister also demanded to increase the production volumes of carrots in Belarus to minimize the import of this crop. -0-