Aliaksandr Lukashenka convened a nationwide meeting by video link today on the harvesting campaign. In his opening remarks, he sought to underscore the importance of the event by placing it in a geopolitical context.
According to Lukashenka, such nationwide meetings are a tradition because the harvest campaign is the country’s main priority at this time of year.
“If we speak about the Belarusian mentality, it is deeply ingrained in us that even when the world is shaken by wars and conflicts, and the line between common sense and the madness of certain people, including politicians, disappears, we still have to plough, sow and harvest grain.
Because in both wartime and peacetime people want to eat. The harvest campaign is not only a kind of examination or the outcome of the farmers’ year-long work cycle, but also a firm guarantee of our food security and one of the foundations of our export earnings in foreign currency. It is the concern of the entire state, not just farmers. If we have bread, we will survive,” he said, according to his press service.
According to the Agriculture and Food Ministry, as of July 20, farmers had harvested 1.22 million tonnes of grain with an average yield of 4.16 tonnes per hectare, up 0.18 tonnes per hectare from the same date last year. Belarus has harvested 1 million tonnes of winter barley for the first time. Winter rapeseed has been harvested from 138,000 hectares, or 31% of the planned area. A total of 330,000 tonnes has been collected, with an average yield of 2.1 tonnes per hectare, up 0.13 tonnes per hectare year on year.
“The outlook for the harvest is good. Now we must collect as much of it as possible, without excuses or references to circumstances, including the whims of the weather. Such surprises are common in our latitudes, and we have experience from previous campaigns.
Everything is happening simultaneously in the fields: harvesting grain and winter rapeseed, the second grass cutting, and soon it will be time to sow winter crops. Planning all of this properly is the task of the entire chain of command, from agronomists and farm directors to regional governors and the prime minister,” he continued.
Lukashenka also demanded that agricultural machinery be fully prepared for the campaign.
“Combine harvesters, tractors and grain-drying facilities must all be in working order, and every piece of equipment must be assigned qualified operators. The government says machinery readiness is higher than last year and stands at 99%. That is sufficient for a full-scale harvest. I believe that by the start of the harvesting campaign you will have 100% machinery readiness. Agricultural enterprises across the country have 6,800 combine harvesters. In addition, more than 400 new combines will be deployed. At the same time, not everything is as positive as we would like,” he said.
Given this year’s weather conditions, grain-drying facilities will be used extensively.
“Large volumes of grain will have to pass through dryers, at least once, to avoid crop losses. Therefore, all grain handling sites and grain dryers must be fully operational. On paper, grain-drying facilities are currently 97% ready. And, according to the government, the existing 1,660 grain-drying facilities will be sufficient to process the daily volume of harvested grain.
From the government offices, yes. But in reality, no. While flying over eastern and central Belarus, I saw large quantities of grain piled up at grain handling sites. I hope you understand that the shutdown of a grain-drying facility means the shutdown of the entire harvesting cycle, widespread spoilage of the crop and a decline in its quality,” he added.
According to Lukashenka, large-scale harvesting is beginning a week earlier than usual this year.
“There is no time to waste, dear friends. As you can see, the Lord is not allowing us to delay. Large-scale harvesting is starting five to seven days earlier than usual, and with heavy rains and only moderate warming, it will not be easy.
As always, help those who live on private homesteads. People need assistance. First and foremost, help the elderly and those who live alone, who have no one to rely on except the head of the agricultural enterprise and the state.
I do not even want to speak at length about discipline. It is the foundation. It must be ironclad, both in terms of complying with technology and in terms of carrying out one’s duties,” he said.
