1 March, Vitebsk /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. Ahead of the sowing campaign, rural executive committee deputies in the Vitebsk region will survey villagers to identify those in need of assistance with land cultivation and fodder procurement. A resolution to this effect was adopted today at a meeting of the presidium of the Vitebsk Regional Council of Deputies, BELTA correspondent reports. Providing assistance to personal subsidiary plots is one of the most important tasks of local councils, believes Alexander Atyasov, Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Council of Deputies. The region is implementing a program for the development and support of personal subsidiary plots of the region's residents, which is aimed not only at increasing agricultural production on private farms but also at boosting the incomes of rural residents. Unfortunately, the region continues to see a trend of declining agricultural production on personal subsidiary plots and a decrease in livestock numbers. According to the Committee for Agriculture and Food of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, 66% of rural households do not keep any livestock. Alexander Atyasov believes that this situation needs to be fundamentally changed, and a system for assisting with garden cultivation and fodder procurement, which rural executive committees should take under their control, would greatly contribute to this. Due to the technical re-equipment of agricultural enterprises and the introduction of energy-intensive machinery, cultivating private gardens with such equipment is becoming problematic. The presidium of the regional council has instructed district and rural councils of deputies and executive committees to survey rural residents to identify those in need of assistance with land cultivation and to submit proposals to agricultural organizations, housing and communal services departments, and consumer service enterprises for providing assistance, for example, by allocating machinery for agricultural work, involving land plots into crop rotation of farms upon citizens' applications, and assigning horses to settlements for garden cultivation. Alexander Atyasov also drew attention to the need to assist citizens who seasonally reside in rural areas and maintain personal subsidiary plots, i.e., summer residents. According to the regional agricultural sales department, in 2011, agricultural enterprises provided services to the population for the maintenance of personal subsidiary plots worth almost Br3.4 billion. -0-

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