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Leanid Zlotnikau: All Attempts to Manage As Before Are Doomed to Failure

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Leanid Zlotnikau: All Attempts to Manage As Before Are Doomed to Failure

The food industry is one of the most loss-making industries, although it holds second place in terms of export volumes.

Ambassador of Belarus to Russia Uladzimir Semashka states in an interview with TASS news agency that Rosselkhoznadzor's repeated imposition of restrictive measures on Belarusian enterprises does not mostly relate to the quality of products. According to him, the Belarusian producers meet all the requirements and standards adopted in the EEU and "which are stricter in some respects than in the European Union," Zautra Tvaye Krainy writes.

Do they nitpick again or is there a reason?

According to Leanid Zlotnikau, PhD in Economics, this question has no objective answer.

- To do this, one needs to know the results of laboratory tests. I suppose that there is no smoke without fire. On the other hand, there is pressure from Russian agricultural producers not to let Belarus be a bottom-feeder, not to hammer prices.

- But in Lithuania, Ukraine, one can see a wide range of Belarusian dairy products in shops.

- Belarus sells some products at a loss. For example, we export about a hundred thousand tons of beef, which is much. Beef producers bear losses from this export. This also applies to butter, we sell 60-70 thousand tons of butter at a loss. The food industry is one of the most loss-making industries, although it holds second place in terms of export volumes.

We probably produce more milk than in Russia, and what do we have? Poor agricultural enterprises. Loss-making food industry. There is also a price point here. Perhaps, Russian agricultural producers insist that the Belarusian ones prevent them from producing their own products. In addition, we consider milk a product if it is made of powder. And according to the Russian standards, it should be natural.

- According to the official information, the current GDP growth is 1%, which is much lower than the government forecasts for this year (4%). Agriculture is one of the loss-making spheres, which makes minus 1.8%.

- Agricultural products should be on the agenda, not the agricultural sector as a whole. The growth of production equaled to 5%. During this time, the purchase prices of agricultural products increased by 6%, i.e., a slight increase in the value of production was due to the increase in prices. But this is not real growth.

- Why do the Belarusian authorities hold on to agriculture so hard?

- The current nomenclature of high level is guided by values of equal distribution, which do not suppose a market economy. Agriculture is not the market economy. We simply have a command economy, which does not allow farmers to expand. It would be better for the market, not the vertical to control it. We have the wrong system both in the economy and in the state administration.

- The new leadership of Ukraine has already stated that it is time to abandon the notion of a country of agricultural production and to adjust to a different way. When will the Belarusian authorities mature to this?

- In Ukraine, agriculture is the most effective industry that generates income. For example, it is butter, vegetable oil, sugar. What did they do? On the contrary, they gave freedom to agricultural producers, introduced private ownership of land. However, this land cannot be resold. But what do peasants do? They lease this land to those who want to produce agricultural products.

There are large agricultural enterprises that do not own lands but lease them from peasants, from pensioners, who also raise on it. In general, this is almost capitalist production.

Ukraine has quite effective agriculture. All attempts to manage as before, on behalf of the state, are doomed to failure.

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