ZHITKOVICHI District, 31 August (BelTA) – President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko does not rule out a possibility of privatization of agricultural lands. The President made this statement as he visited the farm of Mikhail Shrub in Zhitkovichi District, BelTA has learnt. “If we decide to give land into private ownership, we will start from this farmer,” Alexander Lukashenko said referring to Mikhail Shrub. “Let it be an experiment for the time being. But we need to give the land to those who have deserved it,” the head of state said. Alexander Lukashenko visited the farm which cultivates onions, potatoes and got familiar with the way the production is organized there. The Chairman of the Gomel Oblast Executive Committee, Alexander Yakobson, briefed the head of state on the status of implementation of the national potato production program. Today there are 51,000 hectares under this crop in the country. The harvest is expected at one million tonnes. The profitability exceeds 60% and even reaches 100% in some regions. The yield is around 230 centners per hectare. At the same time, there are several shortcomings in potato production, which need to be addressed as soon as possible. In particular, there is a lack of storage facilities. The system of seed production is underdeveloped. Potatoes are often cultivated on a small scale. There are no logistics centers to handle potato sales, either. The program designed to run until 2015 provides for an increase in the areas under potatoes up to 65,000 hectares. The volume of production is projected to increase up to nine million tonnes. Around 500,000 tonnes will be sold abroad. The system of seed production will be revised, and the cycle of seed production reduced from 9 to 7 years. There are plans to organize specialist farms that will cultivate potatoes, to build the necessary number of modern potato storage facilities and increase the production of starch. Roughly Br1.5 trillion will be required to implement all these goals. Alexander Yakobson suggested building potato storage facilities from pressed straw in order to reduce the construction costs. Gomel Oblast has gained some experience of such construction. Four houses from pressed straw have already been built in Petrikov District. The President stressed that the scheme should be time-proof and reasonable in price. According to the head of state, a lot is to be done within the next two years to implement the program. Alexander Lukashenko also visited the farm’s premises used for vegetable processing and storage. The head of state got familiar with agricultural products made at the farm as well as the produce of four processing companies of the oblast. The head of state was shown around the new premises of the farm which are currently under construction. When summing up the trip, the President said that economic rationale should be the basis of any project in agriculture. The farm of Mikhail Shrub can be taken as an example. “The projects should be optimal. There is no need to invent anything. We have people to learn from,” Alexander Lukashenko said. БЕЛТА
Written by belta.by
