By Sergei Shumanski.
Agriculture is the basis of the economies of many developed countries, and Belarus is no exception. The welfare of the people and stability of the state depend on the effective operation of agriculture. It is hard to believe but 20 years ago our country was on the threshold of the agrarian crisis. And in order to overcome these difficulties a huge effort was required. The task given to farmers was to revive agricultural production and thereby ensure food security of our country. The state has invested a lot of money in the revival of the village. And the decision was correct: this year food exports of our country will reach $ 7 billion.
Today, the country has almost 3,000 private farms. Today, a private farmer has on average about 65 hectares of land.
Alexander Lukashenko dedicated this weekend to communication with farmers. The President went to Mogilev region, where he visited several farms in order to see how the business is going, to talk about the problems.
They discussed complexity and benefits of private agriculture business, the work of the equipment, the specifics of growing crops. The president and the farmers agree that the work on the ground can be fun and bring considerable revenue too.
Afterwards, the development of farms was discussed. Any farmer is interested in expanding his land pieces. There are two ways for that: investment of earnings or credits from banks.
The head of state also paid attention to the topic of succession. It is a great thing to create a farm, but it is even more important to bring up a follower who will continue this business.
The question of machinery was raised during the discussion as well. The President noted that in due time Belarus knowingly started assembling tractors and harvesters. Today, we produce almost the entire line, while two decades ago almost the entire budget of agricultural enterprises was spent on the imports.
The conversation lasted several hours and touched upon the difficulties of creating a farming business, the right of private ownership of land, and even on the abolition of administrative procedures. In particular, farmers raised the issue of simplification of accounting. President Alexander Lukashenko fully supported this idea and instructed to simplify accounting in farms.
Communication with the President was comprehensive. It embraced such topics as collective consolidation, the interest of households in the consumption of domestic seeds, the help that farmers render to local residents in their gardens. During the conversation even the problem of parasitism was raised. Farmers fully supported the President.
Thus, farmers had a unique opportunity to discuss their concerns with the Head of State. And for the President it was also a great opportunity to learn about the challenges and joys of ordinary people.












