Asked how top performers of the harvesting campaign will be rewarded this year, Aleksandr Lukashenko said: “We always do that. We will do it especially this year.”
Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that the self-exiled opposition had criticized him for returning to mobilization economy and for hosting conference calls to discuss the harvesting campaign. “Does that achieve result?” the Belarusian leader asked the logical question.
“We will have everything this year,” he stressed. The cereal harvest including corn will be close to 11 million tonnes. However, Aleksandr Lukashenko encourages agrarians and municipal authorities not to pursue this figure: “Corn is getting drier in arid sandy locations now. I already push them towards harvesting it. And there is no need to chase after 11 million tonnes of cereals.”
The head of state explained that Belarus can get 12 million tonnes if it wants to and if all the corn is harvested for the sake of corn grain. But right now it may be smarter to harvest some part of corn to make silage for the animal husbandry industry. “It is necessary to use corn to make as much grain as we need. The rest should be silage,” he said.
Other crops are expected to produce good results, too. For instance, sugar beet. “There will be plenty of sugar. There will be no problems in this regard,” Aleksandr Lukashenko assured.
“The cereal harvest will be good. Particularly in this weather. We will have everything of our own making. We've made an arrangement with the elder brother [President of Russia Vladimir Putin]. I've asked him to put aside half a million [tonnes of cereals] for us. We may not need it but just in case. We need more cattle after all and cattle need feeding,” the president noted.
Written by belta.by
