OREANDA-NEWS. March 15, 2013. President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko met with Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Rusyi and Agriculture and Food Minister Leonid Zayats to receive their reports.

The head of state pointed out the need to address urgent problems in agriculture.

“Effective operation, profits, money are the key matters. I want to rather definitely reaffirm that no loans will be written off!” the President stressed.

According to the head of state, over 30% of the agricultural enterprises demonstrate good performance. “About slightly more than 30% of the enterprises can work well if they get a nudge, if relevant measures are taken, a bit of help is used. But there are some 20-25% of the enterprises that need serious attention and something has to be done about it,” the President said.

“I believe that there are still plenty of reserves in agriculture. The key ones are personnel: executives, specialists, peasants. If there is a will to work, if people intend to work, then there are results. If there is no good management, no specialists, then people do not work so well. However much money you may waste, nothing will come out of it,” the head of state said.

Alexander Lukashenko pointed out that at present Belarus satisfies the bulk of its need for agricultural products and exports some products. “Therefore, those, who sit idle and cannot work well due to other reasons, should think about working well in order to survive. It is not the time when we did not have enough bread and when we ran out of salt,” the head of state said.

The President was informed about the state of efforts to implement the national program of sustainable development of agriculture for 2011-2015. A lot has been done in the Belarusian agricultural industry in the past 12 years. There is a solid infrastructure, a considerable increase in gross output, quality improvement. Agricultural companies have been refurbished. In 2013-2014 all dairy farms will be modernized, big hog-breeding complexes will be built.

Another important step is to ensure sustainable operation of companies which are lagging behind today.

In the near future there are plans to hold a nationwide meting of agricultural workers to discuss new economic approaches regarding labor incentives, integrated development indices, ways to reduce prime cost of products and boost competitiveness. The government is currently mulling over the proposals of the Agriculture and Food Ministry, the National Academy of Sciences, the Economy Ministry.

Alexander Lukashenko reminded about his requirement to introduce proper order in the industry, rationally use natural resources, step up modernization effort.

Participants of the meeting also discussed the state of efforts to prepare for the spring sowing campaign.