Lukashenko: The year was difficult, but farmers performed better than before

The current agricultural year in Belarus has been very difficult, but farmers performed better than before. This was noted by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at a ceremony presenting state awards to leading agricultural workers, BELTA reports.

At the very beginning of the ceremony, the President emphasized two important points. These are conclusions that will serve as the basis for future agricultural policy.

"First, my advice to you, the best farmers, and to those who will listen to us: We need to stop whining and complaining about not having enough people in the countryside. We have everything we need, and this year is proof of that. It was a very difficult year. I can't remember in my life such a difficult and stressful period as this year for agriculture and the processing industry," said Alexander Lukashenko. "It was a very difficult year. So what? This year, despite my demands and pickiness (such as a peasant's), I haven't just noticed—we all see it—that you've done a much better job than in previous years. Much better, despite everything that's been going on around you."

"It's as if God were seriously testing us. So what? We've shown excellent results. We can already talk about this today. Maybe I'm exaggerating—not excellent, but better than ever. If we want to, we have enough people, equipment, discipline, and order. I'm speaking generally. Although, if we speak specifically, you've heard this from the Vitebsk region and from my trips to southern Belarus, there are unacceptable, extremely negative things," the head of state noted.

Alexander Lukashenko emphasized that "if we get our act together, we can do anything." "Therefore, we must stop complaining about the many problems in our agriculture. We must be prepared for this every day. So let's stop whining and start working," the Belarusian leader urged.

The second conclusion the President voiced follows from the first. It's customary to evaluate the current year's performance based on the previous year's results. Alexander Lukashenko proposed abandoning this practice in agriculture and evaluating the results of a given year using the 2025 level as a benchmark. "This is a task for our agricultural sector leaders and our economists. This year's indicators should become the benchmark for assessing future periods. It will be important to me that you achieved this year's indicators. Because it was the highest in these indicators," the President instructed. "The most important thing is that we didn't achieve these indicators theoretically, but in practice. So why shouldn't we compare them to this year? Therefore, we reached this level at the peak, and we will continue to compare and evaluate ourselves, and especially agriculture, against this year's level."