Record results of Belarus agro-industrial complex are the merit of the people

Alexander Lukashenko praised the work of Brest governor and his aide in the region, as well as the people working in the field. Belarusian agriculture, more precisely, the future of the industry now depends on them. 

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, most of the collective farms were in a deplorable state. It was clearly visible on the store shelves. No machinery, no seeds, no manpower. The President said at the start almost the leadership of the country went to work on the collective farms, you had to understand on the spot where to start. Sometimes the ways were not the most economically correct, it was a risk, but justified. People had to be fed. 

The President said that then there were precisely defined criteria, five-year plans for the revival of the village: "It should not be private farms... Let the farmers be, let them be, we will support them... But we should not destroy collective farms. Today we understand that we were not mistaken then, when we created enlarged commercial farms... And if we had divided our large commodity farms into small farms then we would have perished. We would have been starving. Not because farmers are bad.

I tell you this so that you would appreciate and understand that we were creating these projects, at the cost of the efforts of the entire Belarusian people, because devaluation affected everyone, when we were creating agricultural objects at the cost of the entire Belarusian people's labor. Yes, it was not easy. But our Belarusians held out. You are good people, take care of yourselves. 

The result of this work is now on Belarusian shelves. Stores, farmers' markets, branded chains. There are hundreds of established brands with a  good reputation. It's not just food security within the country (so it officially sounds), but also a huge choice. Plus efficient exports. Russia eats Belarusian food with great pleasure. Moreover, Europe eats it, despite the sanctions, and Asia too. We trade with a hundred countries, because no policy will make the market give up on food. "

Andrei Starikov, political analyst, head of the Baltnews news agency:

“What have the supporters of the liberal path in Belarus been saying: why should the state spend this gigantic money on agriculture, on the agro-industry? There's no need to support and modernize enterprises. If it's profitable, they will manage to survive on their own. And if it is not profitable, then what for? Let's buy from the West, from Europeans, from our Baltic neighbors. Actually, those were the recipes of the International Monetary Fund for Belarus. Now even according to their Western ratings of the global food security, Belarus is in the top thirty countries.“ 

Alexei Avdonin, political analyst: 

“At the moment there are about 1.4 thousand agricultural enterprises in Belarus, about three thousand peasant farms. But it is important to assess them not by the number of legal entities, but just by the volume of production. Farms can specialize in certain types of products, while large agricultural enterprises provide scale.”

In any case, over the past 10 years the amount of meat and milk produced in the country per Belarusian has tripled.