If normal living and working conditions are provided in rural areas, people will come here. This was stated by President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, responding to questions from employees of the agro-combine "Yubileiny" in Orsha district, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
"If there are normal living conditions (this is the priority) and working conditions, people will come here," the head of state replied to the question of what measures should be taken to retain young people in rural areas.
Alexander Lukashenko emphasized that at one time, when he was a farm manager, he faced the problem of an excess of labor, and in his opinion, this is worse than a shortage. "But there should be no deficit either," the President stressed.
He noted that working conditions for agricultural workers have significantly changed recently, with the introduction of modern, high-performance equipment that not only eases human labor but also replaces the work of many people. "We will, as everywhere in the world, move towards a situation where the rural population will not be excessive. There will only be those who are supposed to work," Alexander Lukashenko explained.
If Belarus had not preserved large-scale farming entities such as collective and state farms, and had instead opted for fragmentation into individual farms, the outflow of people from rural areas would have been even greater, the President is confident. However, both forms of rural farming have been preserved in the country, allowing the agro-industrial complex to develop steadily. "Somewhere there are more farmers, somewhere fewer, some leave, some come, and so on. Occasionally, we transfer loss-making collective and state farms. But the population will still decrease. I am trying to maintain the population size (in rural areas. - BELTA's note), although, according to statistics, our rural population is significantly decreasing. But it is sufficient because different technology is coming," the head of state pointed out.
"Normal conditions need to be created, and nothing more. People will choose for themselves. They have already rushed to the city, and it's not so easy to find work there, and some outflow has already begun," the Belarusian leader continued.
The President recalled that at his insistence, agro-towns were developed in Belarus. Their goal was precisely to create more comfortable living conditions in rural areas in order to retain people in the regions. However, all this will not yield results if jobs and decent working conditions are not created, the Head of State emphasized. "But they will be nothing if there is no good equipment, no good complexes – a machine yard, a threshing floor, if there are no good working conditions. By the way, we had a distortion at the beginning: agro-towns were created, but technologies and equipment lagged behind. And now we are starting to catch up," Alexander Lukashenko noted. "This is not a quick process, not one farm, but thousands of them. But within five years, the country will be different, including in agriculture, if we take advantage of this moment when food prices have risen (worldwide. – BELTA's note)."
He stressed that the state youth policy in Belarus is aimed at comprehensive support for children, both in terms of their upbringing, education, and medical care, and regarding support measures for employment in small settlements. "Moreover, we provide assistance like no other state in the world, although we are not the richest state. We will help with children. But you must understand that children are yours, you gave birth to them, and you must be primarily responsible for them, and then the state," the President noted.
In Belarus, according to him, colossal funds have been invested in healthcare, including for providing quality care to mothers and children. By the way, the coronavirus situation confirmed that the country has chosen the right path both in the development of domestic medicine as a whole and in the strategy for combating COVID-19. "We endured. Well done!" the President praised. "Our results (we see them) are better than in any other country in the world, and the worst are in America. Rich USA, but they have the worst."
State support is also provided to the education sector, especially in terms of ensuring the educational process for children from rural areas. "We are creating equal conditions for everyone. I always advise universities: look at the hinterland, at the regions, where children do not have the same opportunities as in Minsk. But our universities are filled with Minsk schoolchildren, and students, as soon as there is any trouble, they are in the front ranks. Because they are not from the land, they have not seen this normal life," said Alexander Lukashenko.
The President emphasized that candidates from the regions are often relied upon when selecting managerial staff in the country: "We take people from the regions so that people rise from here: to lead the country, to be ministers, and so on."
In this regard, Alexander Lukashenko pointed to the director of the agro-combine "Yubileiny" Alexander Firsin. "Take a closer look at him, it's time to take him from here," the President addressed the Governor of the Vitebsk region, Alexander Subbotin. "He has already nurtured more than one person, he has a cohort of young guys, specialists who are ready to lead the economy."
"It would be good to have more such leaders at the top. And they need to be promoted so that they understand how to live, what to do, how to work," the President added.
He assured that the state will continue to create conditions for the retention of youth in rural areas. "But it is desirable that you also have your heart in this land," said the Belarusian leader. "If your children are attached to the land, no retention is needed. They will come, get an education, a specialty, come to the leader and say: 'I am ready to work hard and do this for you, and you help me build a house.' Any leader will always do this. This is your upbringing, how you will raise your children."
Source: belta.by