‘No Potatoes Soon’: Authorities Seems To Be Losing Battle For Harvest

The abnormal heat is claimed to be the reason for that.

The heat over 30 C, dryness and lack of rain. Is it possible to save the harvest? This is what worries the residents of the villages of Staraya Belitsa and Zialiony Sad, Homel region, Belsat reports.

“We have to carry too much water, up to 300 liters at the very least. Everything is so dry.”

“The crops are drying up, the kitchen gardens, everything. No rain. There will be no potatoes soon.”

“Onions are withering. The winter garlic drooped. Everything is withering away, nothing grows, the plants just stand there like some spikes. Everything is burnt by the sun,” residents of the village of Staraya Belitsa in the Homel region tell.

According to weather forecasts, the air temperature in June exceeded the climatic norm by almost a quarter, the air warmed up to 34 C at maximum. Herein, there fell only a third of the needed volume of precipitation.

Across the country, crops are damaged in an area of almost 30 thousand hectares. The Homel region suffered the most, says the Ministry of Agriculture. They don’t give predictions for the next harvest here.

“The situation has not stabilized, it is deteriorating, and it is too early to make an assessment. As in the past year: we did not harvest, but this does not mean that the food market has somehow suffered - no. We compensated for the lack of grain through imports; we did not reduce livestock production. The budget will definitely not suffer from this - the budget load only decreases annually. This affects the financial activities of agricultural enterprises, ” said representative of the Ministry of Agriculture Vasil Yadlouski.

Last year, the harvest shortage in Belarus amounted to about 2 million tons, which resulted in about $ 300 million losses, says the former adviser to the Minister of Agriculture. Will insurance companies be able to compensate for such losses of agricultural enterprises?

“This will cause the number of unprofitable households to increase. Today, they make one third, and there will be more, of course. Therefore, prices may increase for milk, for poultry, for eggs, they can grow, ” said former adviser for the Minister of Agriculture Kazimir Ramanouski.

Meteorologists predict hot weather with insignificant rains to preserve in the coming weeks.