Agriculture minister: There will be no food shortage in Belarus

There will be no food shortage in Belarus, Agriculture and Food Minister Igor Brylo said in an interview with the Economy of Belarus Magazine, BelTA informs.

“We have achieved an adequate level of food self-sufficiency and are able to meet domestic needs in staple foods mostly from our own production. These staple foods include milk and meat, grain and potatoes, sugar and vegetable oil,” the minister said.

The level of self-sufficiency in milk is 256%, meat 135%, eggs 126%, grain 107.5%, potatoes 100.4%, vegetables 101.9%, sugar 176%, vegetable oil 232%. “These products are in abundance in our country. This means that our country has not only achieved food security, but also remains a food exporter,” Igor Brylo emphasized.

According to the minister, domestically produced foodstuffs account for a huge share of foods sold in the country. This figure approaches 100% across many food products.  

For example, in January-March 2022 the share of local products sold on the domestic market was as follows: meat and meat products 99.6%, including pork 99.99%, beef 99.7%, poultry meat 99.3%, edible offal 99.8%, canned food from meat and offal 99%, cheeses 92.6%, butter 99.95%, eggs 100%, flour 87.5%, pasta 66.8%, potatoes 98.2%, beets 94.3%, carrots 99.6%, onions 83.7%, sugar 99.7%.

At the same time, by 2025 grain production is projected to increase to 10 million tonnes, potatoes to 6 million tonnes, vegetables to 1.9 million tonnes, milk to 9.2 million tonnes, livestock and poultry to 2 million tonnes. If all domestic needs are met, Belarus will increase food export to get additional foreign exchange earnings.

In recent years, Belarus has made significant progress in the production of food and agricultural products, which allowed the country to achieve a high level of food security. The production potential of the agro-industrial complex is growing, so is the export of goods.

“We have almost all kinds of food products and achieved a certain independence from imports,” Igor Brylo added.

Belarus has risen from the 36th to 23rd place among 113 countries featured in the Global Food Security Index. Belarus is ahead of Russia (24th place), Poland (25th), Spain (26th), Kazakhstan (32nd), Hungary (36th).