Lukashenko: Agricultural industry should make faster progress

MINSK, 16 April (BelTA) – Agricultural workers have something to be proud of, but the agricultural industry needs to be more sustainable and to develop faster, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a meeting to discuss rural development and efficiency of the agricultural sector, BelTA has learned. 

According to the head of state, this meeting is part of the efforts to objectively analyze the state of affairs in various sectors of the economy. The participants of this particular meeting will discuss the development of the agricultural sector, its efficiency and ways to increase its contribution to the total national income. 

“The living standards of our people, foreign exchange earnings, food security and, ultimately, social and political stability in the country largely depend on the state of affairs in the countryside,” Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized. “In general, agricultural workers have something to be proud of. Belarus fully provides itself with staple foods and is head and shoulders above other CIS countries in per capita production and consumption of such products.

Thus, the self-sufficiency ratio of milk is estimated at almost 270%, meat at 135%, sugar at more than 150%, potatoes at 112%. 

Belarus looks very solid across a number of indicators in global rankings. The country is among the top five exporters of dairy products and among the top 20 exporters of meat products, and these are the most essential agricultural products. 

Belarus-made foodstuffs are supplied to more than 107 countries around the world; foreign exchange earnings from their sales amounted to almost $7.5 billion in 2023. “And this was amidst a sharp drop in world prices,” the president noted. 

“Today the task is to move on, to make the agricultural industry more sustainable and to ensure its progressive development. We have the wherewithal to achieve this task,” the head of state is convinced. “We know how to do it. You see a catastrophic food insecurity in the world. It is clear that it will get even worse due to population growth and a number of other problems in various regions of the planet. I reiterate: we need to forget about the sanctions and other Western horror stories. We need to acknowledge them. But we need to leave them behind. You know why. It is necessary to consistently expand the production and export of products with high added value, to promote national brands, to stay ahead of the curve, and to take new market niches and expand into new markets. There is no other way.” 

Therefore, Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked that the meeting will be not so much about achievements, but rather about problems and ways to resolve them in order to achieve significantly better results. 

“Today the situation is as follows. In 2023, the agricultural production inched up by slightly more than 1% (crop production fell by over 1%, livestock production expanded by 4.5%). Taking into account how much has been invested in the agricultural sector, this is a very humble result,” the president emphasized.