The seed plant is a comprehensive facility that includes grain reception, its primary cleaning, drying, intermediate storage of seed material, seed sorting, and their storage. The plant was developed as a standard model for other elite seed-producing farms. The uniqueness of this seed plant lies in the fact that it is the first complex in Belarus for the production of seeds of cereals, rapeseed, groats, and grasses, which allows for the storage and processing of the entire volume of grain produced on the farm.
According to the Chairman of the Presidium of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Mikhail Myasnikovich, the plant was built using Belarusian technology based on the best world examples of similar productions. In the future, it is planned to build similar plants in all regions of Belarus, taking into account the specific features of each region. In total, 40 plants for seed production and procurement are planned to be built in Belarus in 2011-2012. The President emphasized that when building the plants, unjustified excesses should not be allowed, but neither should one be stingy. He also demanded a hundred percent utilization of the future plants.
The President was informed about the state of seed production in the country, the strategy for providing Belarus with high-quality domestic seeds, and the technological process of preparing seed material. However, the head of state was not entirely satisfied with what he heard. "They have been telling me this for five years," he said.
Alexander Lukashenko also ordered an inspection of the effectiveness of all agricultural scientific and practical centers of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. "We will very seriously check all the centers that have been created. We need advanced results. It is necessary for them to concentrate on large-scale commercial production," said the head of state. He also added that this inspection will be carried out in September-October, after all harvesting work is completed.
Alexander Lukashenko noted that a special commission will analyze the work of five scientific and production centers and check whether previously given instructions have been fulfilled. In addition, the President intends to personally familiarize himself with the work of these centers and draw conclusions about their effectiveness.
He also recalled that at one time the centres were created with the aim of bringing science closer to production, so that scientists would achieve in practice the result that should be in perspective on every farm and field. "This is what we are doing. So far, I have good impressions, but I am not making final conclusions yet, I want to understand all these issues myself," said the Head of State. Then, Alexander Lukashenko visited the breeding reproduction farm of RUP "Zarechye" of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Animal Husbandry. The farm is designed to keep 500 main sows and raise pedigree young stock for breeding farms in the country. Here, practical work has already begun on creating domestic high-performance meat pig genotypes capable of producing highly profitable, high-quality pork when using resource-saving production technologies. As it was noted, a system of selection work needs to be created in the country to produce competitive products. To achieve this, three tasks must be solved: providing new genetic material, new technologies, and training qualified personnel. Scientists have developed a system of pedigree pig breeding in Belarus. At the top of this peculiar pyramid is the selection and genetic centre for pig breeding. At the first stage, the most acceptable and expedient option was the purchase of imported animals to stock the farm. In the future, based on new genetics, it will be possible to meet the demand of industrial pig breeding for competitive pedigree young pigs to stock the pig breeding complexes of the republic. In addition, export supplies are also possible. The system developed by Belarusian scientists will ultimately allow for the production of up to 580 thousand tons of competitive pork per year. As reported to the President, with relatively small costs, the problem of transferring the pig breeding industry to a new intensive development path and obtaining high-quality commercial and pedigree products competitive both in domestic and foreign markets will actually be solved. Based on a sharp increase in productive qualities, scientists believe it will be possible to obtain an additional 150 thousand tons of pork using the same feed resources, which increases pork production by 40%.The topic of cattle breeding was also touched upon. The President was informed that French specialists have expressed a desire to work jointly with their Belarusian counterparts in the direction of producing beef breeds of cattle. It is planned to develop a scientific program and organize production. The French side will assist in the creation of a breeding herd. They also noted with satisfaction that the Belarusian side has a complete fodder base at the initial stage. At RUP "Zarechye", Alexander Lukashenko also visited an experimental pig breeding farm-school. It is at this facility that the task of providing livestock farming with highly professional, comprehensively trained personnel capable of adopting and implementing innovations in practice is being addressed. The technological concept and equipment of the experimental pig breeding farm-school are on par with the best global training centers, are unparalleled in the CIS countries, and are adapted to the production conditions of the republic. Approximately 15 main innovative technological solutions for animal husbandry have been implemented at the farm-school, the combination of which allows for modeling over 180 variants of technological solutions that are promising for implementation in both the reconstruction and construction of new enterprises. In addition, Alexander Lukashenko familiarized himself with new technological machine complexes and domestically produced equipment for resource-saving technologies in livestock and crop production. During his working trip, the Head of State also answered journalists' questions. In particular, commenting on Russia's decision to ban grain exports, the President of Belarus expressed the opinion that such a ban would soon be lifted. "I don't know what situation is developing in Russia, they know best. But one must always define the goal. Not to export grain – what does that mean? To keep it for themselves? Why? I don't think Russia lacks grain today to feed its people. More than enough. I don't even think Russia will have a shortage of feed grain," the President said. "I think the Russian government will sense the slowdown in exports and will still open a gap to sell grain." Alexander Lukashenko noted that Russia has very high-quality wheat, which is expensive even today, and its price will increase further in the future. "But Russia has a surplus of such wheat; people don't need that much," the Head of State believes. "I think they will release it, and exports will resume."At the same time, according to the Belarusian leader, the Russian government made the absolutely correct decision that, first and foremost, it is necessary to meet domestic grain needs.
As for the third partner in the Customs Union – Kazakhstan, Alexander Lukashenko believes that this country will have some surplus products, albeit in smaller volumes than in previous years, which they will want to sell for export. This year's crop failure has also affected this country; however, Kazakhstan is more focused on crop production, wheat, and does not have a large livestock population that would require large volumes of grain for feed.
Speaking about Belarus, the President emphasized that the country primarily needs grain to process it, obtaining a high value-added product, and then to sell dairy and meat products at the good prices that are currently established for these products. "We have very strong livestock farming. And we clearly balance here: more livestock, more feed. We have managed to maintain this balance," said the head of state.
Alexander Lukashenko believes that approaches to agriculture have already been formed in Belarus. At all levels, they know how to work with grain, and there is no need for the head of state to interfere in this process.
Regarding weekly trips around the country, Alexander Lukashenko noted that they have long become traditional during the summer period, and this year they have only become more frequent. According to him, the reason for this is a kind of control to "make sure with our own eyes in the last year of the five-year plan whether we have done everything we planned." As the President noted, "overall it's not bad, but this is not the end yet."
In addition, during such trips, attention is not focused solely on agriculture; other issues are considered in parallel: industrial development, tourism, and others. "Mostly these are control issues, because today there is no point in teaching and explaining how to harvest and so on. I have corrected and warned about some medium-term strategy for the harvesting campaign twice or three times this month alone," said the President.
As the Head of State noted, "there is less grain this year than last year." However, the country has achieved a good granary weight of grain due to the absence of the need for additional drying, and this grain is of good quality. The country has enough grain: both malting barley and wheat. "I am glad that we have worked from the machine operator to the President and the government in such a way during these months that there is something to talk about at 'Dazhynki'," noted Alexander Lukashenko. Answering a question regarding the assistance that Belarus is providing to Russia in connection with the raging forest fires there, Alexander Lukashenko stated that our country is ready to provide Russia with additional support and assistance if such is required. "We know that this is a disaster. We have clearly defined that no matter how someone might want it, Russia is not a foreign country to us, the Russian people are our closest brothers," said the President of Belarus. Based on this, Prime Minister Sergei Sidorsky was instructed to call his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and offer Belarus's assistance in the form in which the forest fire warning system is established in our republic. "Because we have the same situation in the south, and perhaps even more difficult than in the Novgorod and Moscow regions. But we have not allowed a single burnt-down village. And we have offered to transfer this experience to Russia," said Alexander Lukashenko. "They accepted it in a reduced form, and our guys are working there now. But this is not all the experience we have. It is up to the Russians – what they wanted, we sent them. And they have acknowledged today that no one works there better than the Belarusians." The Head of State once again emphasized that there is no politics in providing assistance to Russia, and the Belarusian film crew is there only because our society wants to see and know how Belarusian rescuers are working there. "There is no time for politics today. What is happening now is just the beginning. The real challenges will come next year," noted Alexander Lukashenko, referring to possible problems from drought in agriculture in the long term.Journalists also asked Alexander Lukashenko to comment on the statements made by his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev, who claimed that the Belarusian leader had allegedly promised to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but had not yet done so. Responding to this question, Alexander Lukashenko said: "I did not want to discuss this topic, it's just that my Russian colleague unfairly picks out certain things." "He just didn't mention the other part, when I told him: it's not a problem for Belarus to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and it's not a problem today. But I listed the problems that Belarus would face in connection with this in relation to the EU, the USA, the CIS, and so on," explained Alexander Lukashenko. "We worked clearly on these problems for two months and identified them – there were about a dozen and a half of them." However, according to the head of the Belarusian state, when he asked if Russia was ready to share these problems with Belarus and help overcome them if they arose, "Russia proved unable or the Russian leadership did not want to jointly level and eliminate the consequences that could arise for Belarus." "That's what Dmitry Medvedev didn't say," emphasized Alexander Lukashenko. "This was the conversation, not that Lukashenko solemnly promised but did not fulfill. By the way, Lukashenko never solemnly promised publicly. Lukashenko spoke about recognition, but in this context. If Russia had taken steps towards us, the situation would probably have been different," stated the Belarusian leader. "Therefore, my colleague should finish saying some things. They have a habit: not to say what happened next after the comma," summarized the President of Belarus. Continuing the topic of Russian-Belarusian cooperation, journalists asked the head of state about the reasons for the delays in signing the agreement on the construction of the Belarusian NPP. Alexander Lukashenko admitted that there is a problem with reaching an agreement with the Russian side on the construction of the NPP. "We are not discounting other investors. In the near future, we will decide who will build our nuclear power plant," said the head of state, adding that Belarus has proposals in this regard.The President noted that the Belarusian side had contacted many investors but decided in favour of Russia. "We proceeded from what they promised. They persistently demanded that they build this plant," the Head of State explained. "Then, I believe, for purely subjective reasons, they started to put pressure on us. You know what these reasons are. This is in line with what is happening in other areas as well." Alexander Lukashenko said that he had instructed the government to hold final negotiations with Russia and to ask directly whether they would build it or not. The Head of State noted that for the first time, the Russians offered practically double the price. "We say that we will not build the plant at such a price. We agreed that we would have prices like in Russia," the President said and added that the Belarusian side agreed to the cost at which the last plant was built in the Russian Federation. However, the Russians then came up with a proposal to create a joint venture, which would subsequently sell electricity, including Belarusian electricity, to the West. "Allow us! We are taking a loan from you, and not a cheap one, we will pay it back. What business do you have with our product?!" the Head of State said. In this regard, Alexander Lukashenko once again stressed that Belarus does not rule out the possibility of negotiating with other investors, despite the fact that the implementation deadlines for the Belarusian NPP project have been slightly delayed. At the same time, he noted that Belarusian builders are working at the site for the construction of the NPP. "Therefore, if Russia does not build a nuclear power plant in our country, we will negotiate with other investors. They exist. Let us lose a little time – it's not urgent. But we are a sovereign state, we are asking for a loan, not a cheap one, then we will build a nuclear power plant with another state," the Belarusian leader concluded. Another issue that Alexander Lukashenko answered was the prospects for Belarusian-American relations. The Head of State stressed that Belarus would like to normalise relations with the USA. "We are not just ready, we have done a lot in this direction," Alexander Lukashenko stated. "We have many topics for negotiations. There are proposals from our side, there are proposals from the American side. I think that all these issues can be resolved within the framework of negotiations."Journalists also asked the President to express his attitude towards the opinion of a number of "well-known political scientists" that the "reset" of relations between Moscow and Washington creates an opportunity for their joint pressure on Belarus. "Have they reset? In my opinion, hardly (especially in view of these spy scandals)," said the head of state. At the same time, he stressed Belarus's interest in Russia and the USA, especially since they are nuclear powers, having good relations. Alexander Lukashenko noted that no attempts to pressure Belarus will be effective. "The world is completely different: neither America nor Russia will succeed in this. But, I want to say more, there are no secret agreements between the Russian leadership and the US presidential administration regarding Belarus. I know this for sure," said the head of the Belarusian state. "America adheres to its position. Russia has sharply changed its position and is trying, first of all, to build up the President of Belarus, to bend him before well-known political events. But you also know me for a long time, in this regard, I also do not change – it is unpromising and useless to pressure me." -0-BELTA