The problem of provision of the Belarusian cattle breeding industry with new protein-rich fodder crops should be tackled in the near future, said President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko while visiting the Pruzhany Region, Brest Oblast. On 10 May the President set on a working trip to Belarus’ regions.

This visit had not been planned in advance and turned out as a surprise for the local authorities to a certain extent, due to which the President had an opportunity to see the real situation in the Pruzhany Region.

Alexander Lukashenko got familiar with the progress in this year’s spring field work, social and economic development of the Pruzhany Region, visited the Otechestvo Company – one of the biggest agricultural producers in the Brest Oblast, as well as in the entire republic. Owning 17,500 hectares of farmland, it focuses on cattle breeding and production of dairy products, meat, grain, rape and potatoes. The company has been reporting good financial performance and dynamic growth in recent years.

The Head of State was informed on the methods used at the Otechestvo Company to produce soybeans – a crop that makes up protein deficit in cattle fodder.

Every year Belarus purchases 750,000 tonnes of soybean flakes. For this, Belarus spent around $ 350 million in recent years. With prices for protein concentrates expected to rise considerably, experts believe Belarus can and should develop actively its own production of soybean and sunflower which are good protein supplements. Having its own soybean and sunflower production, Belarus will be able to economise up to $ 500 million.

Semen Shapiro, the Minister for Agriculture and Food, said that 6,000 ha of farmland in Belarus would be sowed with soybean for the first time. Thus this year around 10 per cent of the soybean consumed in Belarus will be produced domestically.

The President supported the agrarians' plans. Tackling the protein deficit problem will help step up production in the cattle breeding industry, Alexander Lukashenko said. “Since protein-containing fodders are becoming increasingly expensive in the world, we need to cultivate such crops ourselves. Next year the protein problem in the cattle breeding industry should be resolved completely,” he said.

Alexander Lukashenko said there was a need to set demanding targets for the governors as to the production of soybean, sunflower and rape, bearing in mind the domestic demand for these crops. Incidentally, it was by exactly the same way that Belarus once solved its sugar problem, when it launched its own production of sugar beet.