Die Neue Zeit
13th September 2010, 03:39
So much for Alexander Lukashenko's past background as director ("red director") of the Gorodets state farm... :(
http://law.by/work/EnglPortal.nsf/0/2A795A91DD610CD6C225779000508C31?OpenDocument
ZHITKOVICHI District, 31 August (BelTA) – President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko does not rule out a possibility of privatization of agricultural lands. The President made this statement as he visited the farm of Mikhail Shrub in Zhitkovichi District, BelTA has learnt.
“If we decide to give land into private ownership, we will start from this farmer,” Alexander Lukashenko said referring to Mikhail Shrub. “Let it be an experiment for the time being. But we need to give the land to those who have deserved it,” the head of state said.
Alexander Lukashenko visited the farm which cultivates onions, potatoes and got familiar with the way the production is organized there. The Chairman of the Gomel Oblast Executive Committee, Alexander Yakobson, briefed the head of state on the status of implementation of the national potato production program. Today there are 51,000 hectares under this crop in the country. The harvest is expected at one million tonnes. The profitability exceeds 60% and even reaches 100% in some regions. The yield is around 230 centners per hectare. At the same time, there are several shortcomings in potato production, which need to be addressed as soon as possible. In particular, there is a lack of storage facilities. The system of seed production is underdeveloped. Potatoes are often cultivated on a small scale. There are no logistics centers to handle potato sales, either. The program designed to run until 2015 provides for an increase in the areas under potatoes up to 65,000 hectares. The volume of production is projected to increase up to nine million tonnes. Around 500,000 tonnes will be sold abroad. The system of seed production will be revised, and the cycle of seed production reduced from 9 to 7 years. There are plans to organize specialist farms that will cultivate potatoes, to build the necessary number of modern potato storage facilities and increase the production of starch. Roughly Br1.5 trillion will be required to implement all these goals.
Alexander Yakobson suggested building potato storage facilities from pressed straw in order to reduce the construction costs. Gomel Oblast has gained some experience of such construction. Four houses from pressed straw have already been built in Petrikov District. The President stressed that the scheme should be time-proof and reasonable in price. According to the head of state, a lot is to be done within the next two years to implement the program.
Alexander Lukashenko also visited the farm’s premises used for vegetable processing and storage. The head of state got familiar with agricultural products made at the farm as well as the produce of four processing companies of the oblast.
The head of state was shown around the new premises of the farm which are currently under construction. When summing up the trip, the President said that economic rationale should be the basis of any project in agriculture. The farm of Mikhail Shrub can be taken as an example. “The projects should be optimal. There is no need to invent anything. We have people to learn from,” Alexander Lukashenko said.
http://law.by/work/EnglPortal.nsf/0/5DA975C81DF7ABEAC22577900050A0B5?OpenDocument
ZHITKOVICHI District, 31 August (BelTA) –President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko considers it necessary to set up private agricultural holding companies in Belarus in order to develop the farming. The president made the statement when visiting a private farm of Mikhail Shrub in Zhitkovichi District.
The State will continue to support the farms like that of Mikhail Shrub. The President also suggested that Mikhail Shrub should create an agricultural holding company. He will be in charge of personnel issues and efficiency of the company. The State, in turn, will provide the support to the organization within a three-year period.
For the development of farms, the State is going to allocate land plots, which, due to different reasons, are used inefficiently in large kolkhozes and kolkhozes. There are especially many of such “land plots” in Vitebsk Oblast. The President proposed to give these land plots into private ownership. “Let them use the land. They may cultivate any crops they want,” the president said, noting that several people have already expressed the desire to get into this business.
The head of state believes that in this way the problem of so-called mismanaged farms will be solved and the personnel management will be improved.
Addressing Mikhail Shrub, Alexander Lukashenko said that he is ready to take the process of creating agro-holding companies under personal control. “I think that by establishing private holding companies we will manage to cultivate such farmers as Mikhail Shrub. They will learn from you, and I think there will emerge about 100 to 200 farmers who will follow in your footsteps,” Alexander Lukashenko said when addressing the farmer.
At the same time the President noted that no artificial enlargements of agricultural enterprises will be allowed. "Everything we will do will be based on economic rationale,” he said.
According to the head of state, it is necessary to get maximum from small land plots, and there are a lot of such areas in the country. By bringing them into a holding company, we will be able to make a so-called maneuver, i.e. to produce both crop and animal products within one company.
Addressing Agriculture and Food Minister Mikhail Rusyi, the head of state said: “This should not be a one-time deal. It should be done in every part of the country”.
Mikhail Shrub’s farm was set up in 1993, with only a 32-hectare area then. In February 2003 a loss-making kolkhoz Way to Communism (Zhitkovichi District) was incorporated into the farm. Today the farmland covers 1,862 hectares, including 804 hectares of arable land. The farm specializes in the production of vegetables and potato, and operates a pork production plant. In H1 2010 the profitability made up 26.1%. The average wage is over Br1 million. Mikhail Shrub’s farm has numerously won the national entrepreneurship contest in the nomination, The Best Farm.
Today more than half of the farm’s produce is sold to Russia, Mikhail Shrub told the president.
The farm has also been developing agro-tourism. The farm has already welcomed tourists from France, the United States, Canada, China, Great Britain, and Russia.
http://law.by/work/EnglPortal.nsf/0/2A795A91DD610CD6C225779000508C31?OpenDocument
ZHITKOVICHI District, 31 August (BelTA) – President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko does not rule out a possibility of privatization of agricultural lands. The President made this statement as he visited the farm of Mikhail Shrub in Zhitkovichi District, BelTA has learnt.
“If we decide to give land into private ownership, we will start from this farmer,” Alexander Lukashenko said referring to Mikhail Shrub. “Let it be an experiment for the time being. But we need to give the land to those who have deserved it,” the head of state said.
Alexander Lukashenko visited the farm which cultivates onions, potatoes and got familiar with the way the production is organized there. The Chairman of the Gomel Oblast Executive Committee, Alexander Yakobson, briefed the head of state on the status of implementation of the national potato production program. Today there are 51,000 hectares under this crop in the country. The harvest is expected at one million tonnes. The profitability exceeds 60% and even reaches 100% in some regions. The yield is around 230 centners per hectare. At the same time, there are several shortcomings in potato production, which need to be addressed as soon as possible. In particular, there is a lack of storage facilities. The system of seed production is underdeveloped. Potatoes are often cultivated on a small scale. There are no logistics centers to handle potato sales, either. The program designed to run until 2015 provides for an increase in the areas under potatoes up to 65,000 hectares. The volume of production is projected to increase up to nine million tonnes. Around 500,000 tonnes will be sold abroad. The system of seed production will be revised, and the cycle of seed production reduced from 9 to 7 years. There are plans to organize specialist farms that will cultivate potatoes, to build the necessary number of modern potato storage facilities and increase the production of starch. Roughly Br1.5 trillion will be required to implement all these goals.
Alexander Yakobson suggested building potato storage facilities from pressed straw in order to reduce the construction costs. Gomel Oblast has gained some experience of such construction. Four houses from pressed straw have already been built in Petrikov District. The President stressed that the scheme should be time-proof and reasonable in price. According to the head of state, a lot is to be done within the next two years to implement the program.
Alexander Lukashenko also visited the farm’s premises used for vegetable processing and storage. The head of state got familiar with agricultural products made at the farm as well as the produce of four processing companies of the oblast.
The head of state was shown around the new premises of the farm which are currently under construction. When summing up the trip, the President said that economic rationale should be the basis of any project in agriculture. The farm of Mikhail Shrub can be taken as an example. “The projects should be optimal. There is no need to invent anything. We have people to learn from,” Alexander Lukashenko said.
http://law.by/work/EnglPortal.nsf/0/5DA975C81DF7ABEAC22577900050A0B5?OpenDocument
ZHITKOVICHI District, 31 August (BelTA) –President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko considers it necessary to set up private agricultural holding companies in Belarus in order to develop the farming. The president made the statement when visiting a private farm of Mikhail Shrub in Zhitkovichi District.
The State will continue to support the farms like that of Mikhail Shrub. The President also suggested that Mikhail Shrub should create an agricultural holding company. He will be in charge of personnel issues and efficiency of the company. The State, in turn, will provide the support to the organization within a three-year period.
For the development of farms, the State is going to allocate land plots, which, due to different reasons, are used inefficiently in large kolkhozes and kolkhozes. There are especially many of such “land plots” in Vitebsk Oblast. The President proposed to give these land plots into private ownership. “Let them use the land. They may cultivate any crops they want,” the president said, noting that several people have already expressed the desire to get into this business.
The head of state believes that in this way the problem of so-called mismanaged farms will be solved and the personnel management will be improved.
Addressing Mikhail Shrub, Alexander Lukashenko said that he is ready to take the process of creating agro-holding companies under personal control. “I think that by establishing private holding companies we will manage to cultivate such farmers as Mikhail Shrub. They will learn from you, and I think there will emerge about 100 to 200 farmers who will follow in your footsteps,” Alexander Lukashenko said when addressing the farmer.
At the same time the President noted that no artificial enlargements of agricultural enterprises will be allowed. "Everything we will do will be based on economic rationale,” he said.
According to the head of state, it is necessary to get maximum from small land plots, and there are a lot of such areas in the country. By bringing them into a holding company, we will be able to make a so-called maneuver, i.e. to produce both crop and animal products within one company.
Addressing Agriculture and Food Minister Mikhail Rusyi, the head of state said: “This should not be a one-time deal. It should be done in every part of the country”.
Mikhail Shrub’s farm was set up in 1993, with only a 32-hectare area then. In February 2003 a loss-making kolkhoz Way to Communism (Zhitkovichi District) was incorporated into the farm. Today the farmland covers 1,862 hectares, including 804 hectares of arable land. The farm specializes in the production of vegetables and potato, and operates a pork production plant. In H1 2010 the profitability made up 26.1%. The average wage is over Br1 million. Mikhail Shrub’s farm has numerously won the national entrepreneurship contest in the nomination, The Best Farm.
Today more than half of the farm’s produce is sold to Russia, Mikhail Shrub told the president.
The farm has also been developing agro-tourism. The farm has already welcomed tourists from France, the United States, Canada, China, Great Britain, and Russia.