The potato stabilization fund in the Vitebsk region is planned to be increased threefold in 2011

April 27, Vitebsk /Olga Bogacheva - BELTA/. The potato stabilization fund in the Vitebsk region is planned to be increased threefold in 2011. This was announced today at a meeting of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee by its chairman, Alexander Kosinets, during the discussion of the implementation of the Program for the Development and Support of Personal Subsidiary Farms of Citizens of the Vitebsk Region for 2010 and tasks for 2011-2015, according to a BELTA correspondent. Potato procurement this year should be increased from 8 thousand tons to 24 thousand tons. The Vitebsk region will use one-third of the procured potatoes for its own needs, and the other two-thirds will be sold in other regions of the country and exported. Also, to provide the region's residents with their own fruits, the governor instructed to plant a garden in each district. "The Vitebsk region needs to strive to increase its agricultural product reserves on its own, and the region is capable of doing so," Alexander Kosinets is confident. The set goal can be achieved by working with the population at the local level. Owners of private subsidiary and farms should be provided with more active assistance. First of all, consumer union enterprises and rural council chairmen should be involved in this. "So far, there is complete infantilism in this regard. As a result, we import expensive export vegetables and fruits that we could grow and preserve ourselves," the head of the regional executive committee emphasized. Another evidence of the inaction of local authorities, consumer cooperative enterprises, and processing plants is the weak implementation of the Program for the Development and Support of Personal Subsidiary Farms of Citizens of the Vitebsk Region for 2010. In particular, potato purchases from the population amounted to 53.3% of the plan, livestock and poultry - 50.7%, milk - 80%, young cattle - 45%. "We will not abandon the Program. Moreover, it should be revised to improve performance and compensate for the underproduction of 2010 in the current year," Alexander Kosinets stressed. -0-