Belarus aims for $10bn in food exports

Belarus will aim for $10 billion in food exports, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said at a solemn ceremony to honor agricultural workers during the Mogilev Oblast Dazhynki harvest festival in Klimovichi on 16 November, BelTA has learned.

Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized that in the next five-year period the agricultural workers are again expected to perform great feats. It is important to harvest 10.5-11 million tonnes of grain, modernize all livestock complexes and increase milk yields to eight tonnes per cow.

"We will build dairy complexes all over the country in the next five years. We cannot keep a cow in bad conditions. A cow should live in a ‘palace’," the president said.

The head of state believes that cow deserve a monument. Milk saved Belarusians from hunger during the war. Nowadays, dairy products are staples of Belarusians.

Over the next five years, Belarus also intends to build cutting-edge pig farms and streamline the processing of flax. "Flax is the future. Not because it is a symbol of our country or it is featured in our coat of arms. You noticed that prices have started to rise. People tend to opt for natural fabrics. Except for Belarusians. Belarusians are eager to buy Gucci, Versace and other bizarre things. We must support local brands, home-made fabrics. We produce everything. Choose local and teach children to do this," Aleksandr Lukashenko urged.

According to him, it is also important to provide Belarus with home-grown vegetables, fruits and fish at affordable prices, to introduce new crops (soybeans, industrial hemp), original and new products that can be grown in the country due to warming.

"We can produce anything. God gave us amazing nature for us to live normally and work. Our task is to increase export to $10 billion per year, by means of tapping into new markets of Asia and Africa. Don't think that the West has imposed sanctions on us because we have no human rights or something. Everyone has stopped thinking about them. We are competitors for them. Our products are not welcome there. They seem to side with Ukraine, to help it wage war and so on. As soon as the Ukrainians began to export grain through Poland and other countries, to Africa, and not to them, they closed up these routes. Why? They are friends after all. They promised to help. Ukrainian grain is a competitor for Western Europe,” the president said.

The countries of Africa and Asia need Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed. Zimbabwe and China are prime examples here. And, of course, our traditional partner is Russia.

“This year we can earn $8-9 billion on exports. Oil producers do not get so much. We need to ensure $10 billion exports. We need to approach this level within the next five years. We will need to work hard. Otherwise it will be impossible to achieve the result. We will succeed only through hard work and maximum efforts,” the Belarusian leader said.