MINSK, 11 June (BelTA) – Agricultural enterprises should be merged carefully and cautiously, after consulting with management and employees, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said while making personnel desicions on 11 June, BelTA has learned.
While approving the appointment of heads of local authorities, the head of state commented on the merging agricultural enterprises. He urged district leaders not to rush into attaching low-performing enterprises to successful ones. Such an approach may not only fail to help the underperforming enterprise but could also ruin the successful one. “Hurrying to merge farms just because one is good and the other is bad… We will hang a weight on the legs of a good farm, and it may sink. We must merge agricultural enterprises very carefully and cautiously, after talking to the people and managers,” Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized.
As an example of a reasonable approach, the head of state cited the agro-industrial complex Dzerzhinsky. The branches of the complex are located in several districts of Minsk Oblast. “They’re doing well, they work quite effectively. I keep them under control right down to the land plots they have taken. They lacked land resources and could not produce the required amount of grain for themselves. They needed land, so they practically took over Krupki District, added several other farms, and are working,” the Belarusian leader emphasized. “But they fully provide themselves with grain. They understood that they needed grain: if you produce your own, it is cheaper. This was a reasonable decision, so we moved in this direction. But under no circumstances should anything be done artificially.”
The president also drew attention to farming enterprises. They may have very small areas (50 or 100 hectares), yet many operate efficiently. At the same time, agricultural enterprises may have 3,000-4,000 hectares of land. In this regard, Aleksandr Lukashenko raised a logical question: why merge such farms? “They already have large areas. What is needed is simply to create the necessary base (dairy complexes, calf barns), and ensure that the land produces the appropriate results,” he stated.
The head of state referred to his own experience in agriculture, expressing confidence that people want to see their manager every day. At the same time, in agricultural enterprises with vast land areas, the manager may simply not have the physical ability to see the people working under his leadership. “People want to see their manager every day. And if it is like an entire district [referring to merging most of the district’s farms into one enterprise], then why have a district executive committee chairman at all? There are many questions, but the main thing is that the manager often does not see the people,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
“Therefore, if you merge a large enterprise [with another agricultural organization], it must have its own manager. It may even need its own balance sheets and bank accounts. That’s up to you. As for what should be centralized, sort it out yourselves,” the Belarusian leader added. “But be very careful. We need to see and control this. The government must understand it.”
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