Development of procurement in the Vitebsk region is hampered by the lack of storage facilities and processing capacities - KGC

17 November, Vitebsk /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. The development of procurement activities and the volume of procurements by consumer cooperation enterprises in the Vitebsk region is hampered by the lack of opportunities to ensure the preservation and processing of agricultural and wild-growing products purchased from the population. This conclusion was reached by the specialists of the State Control Committee (KGC) after conducting control and analytical measures on the state of procurements from the population of agricultural and wild-growing products of the 2011 harvest, ensuring their preservation, processing and sale, reports a BELTA correspondent. In the system of the Vitebsk Regional Consumer Union, there are 18 storage facilities for potatoes and fruit and vegetable products, with a capacity of 11.7 thousand tons, of which seven storage facilities are equipped with artificial cooling. To ensure timely preparation of storage facilities, an inventory was carried out in all district consumer unions, and measures were developed for seasonal preparation. The storage facilities are equipped with weighing equipment and temperature and humidity control devices. Cooperators are modernising existing storage facilities. Over the past two years, five facilities have been reconstructed, and three more are planned for 2012. This year, Br5.2 billion has been spent on preparing the material and technical base for the storage season. Storage facilities in Verkhnedvinsk, Vitebsk, and Glubokoye district consumer unions have been modernised without increasing their single-time storage capacity. According to KGC specialists, the main limiting factor for the construction of new, as well as further reconstruction and re-equipment of existing fruit and vegetable storage facilities, is the necessity to use exclusively own funds for these purposes. Such facilities have not been included in any state programmes for the construction, reconstruction, and modernisation of storage facilities using preferential credit resources.

The State Control Committee is convinced that the further development of procurement activities and volumes is hindered by the lack of opportunities to ensure the preservation and processing of agricultural and wild-growing products purchased from the population. A promising direction is the use of modern shock freezing equipment for these purposes. Such products are widely represented in the retail network of the region's cities (these are wild-growing and cultivated varieties of berries, various vegetable and vegetable-mushroom mixtures), but they are predominantly from manufacturers in the Republic of Poland. Recently, Belarusian products (from Brest and Grodno) have also appeared more frequently, however, these are not products of the Belkoopsoyuz system. At the same time, specialists do not rule out that products frozen using conventional technology, supplied by the region's consumer cooperation system for export, including to Poland, are not subsequently returned to Belarus in the form of imports, in a form attractive to the buyer (sorted and packaged).

According to the Vitebsk Regional Union of Consumer Societies, the Belkoopsoyuz system has equipment for shock freezing products in two regional consumer unions (in Mogilev and Brest regions), but their capacities are not adequately utilized. The Vitebsk Regional Union of Consumer Societies has not supplied products for freezing on this equipment. The State Control Committee of the region believes that Belkoopsoyuz needs to ensure full utilization of existing capacities and consider the issue of creating such production facilities in other regions. In addition, the department has been recommended to develop programs for the modernization of existing storage facilities to create optimal conditions for product storage and mechanization of loading and unloading operations. Information has also been sent to the State Control Committee of Belarus. -0-

BELTA