President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has a positive assessment of the country's agricultural sector situation after winter. He stated this in response to journalists' questions, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
Despite the head of state's working trip being dedicated to military issues, he strongly emphasized the importance of attending to routine matters, particularly in agriculture. "It is better to live peacefully. Let's live in harmony and engage in agriculture. We have come through winter excellently, nothing has perished. When has it ever happened that fields are green in March! Only the lazy can be criticised today. Ideal conditions. Never in my memory has this happened," said Alexander Lukashenko.
He mentioned the farmers' protests in several EU countries: "Let them be glad that their farmers on those tractors have not dared to enter the palaces (of the authorities of these countries. - BELTA's note). Otherwise, they will be overthrown if they do not respond to the farmers' demands. And what is needed? They need to buy cheap diesel fuel and petrol from Russia. Buy from us. They are all preparing for war, digging trenches..."
During his working trip, the head of state also paid attention to the quality of land reclamation and sowing work performed. The President criticised the regional leadership for not removing stones from the winter crop fields in a timely manner in some places. This is a characteristic of the soil in a number of areas in the Grodno region – before sowing, it is customary to remove large stones that surface during ploughing, so as not to damage machinery during the harvest.
"I will check you thoroughly on the stones. This is a disgrace. We collected stones before sowing. And you sowed over stones. Disgraceful work. You sowed winter crops over stones. How will you harvest? I did not expect such a mess in your Grodno region," the head of state expressed his critical remarks.