How Lukashenka turned Belarus into the worst version of the BSSR
A mustachioed comrade who considers himself the president of Belarus likes to boast that his main area of activity, in which he is best versed, is agriculture. And he loves to tell a fairy tale about how he once made a millionaire state farm out of a lagging farm in the Shklovsky district.
But this is another lie of an aged visionary, akin to the alleged Tesla given to him by Elon Musk. Just as he once failed to manage the management of the state farm, Lukashenka also ruined agriculture, but now on a countrywide scale.
Don't believe me? Let's get to the facts
Things in agriculture are frankly bad, which is why Lukashenka even forbade people in this industry to quit without the permission of the leadership. "Peasants" run away from Lukashenka as from a bad master wherever they look. The landowner Lukashenka, in turn, wants with all his might to keep and attach them to the land by any possible means - in fact, announcing the introduction of serfdom in Belarus at a recent conference call on agriculture. The very one where he lost his ministerial chair and was sent into exile, who dared to contradict Lukashenka, Minister of Agriculture Brylo.
But let's get back to the "Kolkhoz Archipelago", into which the "strong business executive" turns our country.
Let's start with animal husbandry
Even compared to the USSR, for which Lukashenka is so nostalgic, the number of pigs has almost halved (by 43%), and the number of cattle has fallen by 38%. The "strong business executives" managed to reach the same Soviet volumes of poultry meat production in live weight only in recent years.
The situation is similar with milk production. And for eggs, for example, in 2022, Belarus has not yet reached the level of production of 1990. Wool production, which has fallen tenfold, has remained in such a deplorable state to this day.
Thus, in many respects, it took the former chairman of the unprofitable state farm Lukashenka 30 years to restore the physical production volumes of the BSSR times, and in some respects nothing has been done at all.
It turns out that Lukashenka's Belarus, in terms of a number of indicators, is not only inferior to the "decaying" West, but even to Soviet Belarus more than thirty years ago.
The situation with agriculture is no better
Lukashenka's propaganda loves to tell Belarusians about the Baltic countries, where the evil marketers destroyed all the Soviet heritage: they destroyed industry and brought agriculture to the handle. Well, let's check if this is true, shall we?
Neighboring market Lithuania, which in terms of population is three times smaller than Belarus in 2021, think about it (!), harvested almost the same grain harvest as Belarus under the leadership of a “state farm genius » Lukashenka.
In Lithuania, with a population of 2.8 million people, 5.6 million tons of grain were harvested (that is, two tons per person), and in Belarus, with a population of 9 .3 million - excluding corn, only 6.4 million tons.
Accordingly, there is a significant backlog in Belarus in terms of yield. If in Lithuania the grain yield in 2021 was 40 centners per hectare, then in Belarus it was only 30.
And all this despite huge investments in agriculture. Maybe someone remembers how in 2005 - 2010 the state "Program for the revival and development of the village" was implemented? As part of this program, for example, in 2007 alone, 2.5 billion US dollars were spent, but the economic effect of the injections turned out to be so insignificant that it was recognized even by Lukashenka's officials.
Nevertheless, the program was not suspended and by 2008 the level of subsidies in agriculture reached 60% against the global norm of 20-30%.
The result of the revival of the village in Lukashenka's way: according to various estimates, the share of unprofitable agricultural enterprises in 2021 ranged from 50% to 57%.
Almost every month, even in the state media, we hear about the mass loss of livestock in most state farms and in all areas. The security forces only have time to initiate criminal cases (already 122 last year). Maybe the “zmagars” with the “fugitives” are to blame here too? Or "the insidious West?
So why is this happening?
And all because of the agricultural management system built by Lukashenka, the land use system that exists in present-day Belarus. The farms that are controlled by Lukashenka are not helped by this control in any way, but vice versa. From above, a profile of activity is imposed on them, plans are brought about what and in what volumes to grow. But the result remains the same at best. And more often - negative.
So maybe the peasants themselves should determine what and how much to sow without a stick from the district executive committee and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food?
Remember your grandparents in the countryside. Did someone bring them tasks for planting potatoes in their personal plots? Did they massively drown in the manure of cows and pigs? No, because they were masters, not temporary workers, for whom the main thing is often to report to the authorities.
However, today the products of state-owned agricultural enterprises are purchased at prices set from above, which ultimately turn out to be lower than market prices, which leads to chronic financial insolvency of these farms. Households get into debts from which they can no longer get out. In fact, no one thinks about what will happen to production, about people living in the countryside.
Irregular working hours; unpaid weekend work housing that does not meet sanitary standards; low labor motivation; lack of leisure - that's what awaits the average rural resident of Belarus in the 21st century. And most importantly, people are forced to work for a penny.
Compare? In Poland, hated by Lukashenka, the average monthly income per person in the agricultural sector is three times higher than in Belarus, in Lithuania - almost four times.
As a result, another big problem in the countryside is the outflow of specialists from this area.
But Lukashenka is trying to blame all the problems on mismanagement, theft, drunkenness, whatever - the main thing is on others. Will more control and punishment solve this problem? Of course not.
It's all the fault of the system that exists in the management of agriculture, the system built by Lukashenka. People leading in the field of agriculture are not at all interested in results and profits. Their whole incentive is not to make their enterprise successful, but to not be imprisoned. It is obvious to any sane person that with such an approach we will not go far. But not Lukashenka, who, instead of successful market relations all over the world, chooses tightening the screws, serfdom and the “Kolkhoz Archipelago”.
But if for 30 years of “strong management” nothing has worked in the agrarian sector of Belarus, maybe it’s time to change the system? After all, Belarus really has all the conditions for the successful development of agriculture. As well as for all other sectors of the economy.
The only thing that prevents our country from being economically successful is the regime that has made an even worse version of the BSSR out of independent Belarus in 30 years.
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