At a meeting with top officials of the Council of Ministers, Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko was briefed on the updated financing scheme for the supply of fertilizers to agricultural organizations, BelTA has learned.
“Fertilizers are supplied to agricultural organizations, to collective farms and state farms if we use the old terms, by the producer on an annual basis: whether in autumn for winter crop planting or in spring for spring crop planting. This is financed accordingly. The state participates in this and helps agricultural organizations purchase the fertilizers,” Aleksandr Lukashenko explained the essence of the issue.
Speaking about the state policy in the agricultural sector, the president assured that support for rural communities would continue. the only question being strict control over the mechanism and scope of such support. “There should be no excess; there is no extra money in the budget, either. The government draws up monthly schedules for the purchase of fertilizers by region and identifies sources of financing. These include the national and local budgets, agricultural enterprises’ own funds, and credit resources on preferential terms above all,” the head of state noted.The head of state noted that, overall, the situation across the country is normal. “As of 1 August, 92% of mineral fertilizer quotas had been drawn down. Over 90% is a good level of mineral fertilizer uptake. At the same time, certain regions do not fully purchase their quotas throughout the year. For winter planting, only half of the regions have achieved full drawdown in terms of nitrogen and phosphorus groups. What is the reason, if there is raw material, as you claim, and funding sources have been identified?” Aleksandr Lukashenko asked a question.
In this regard, he drew attention to what is essentially a deadlock situation facing fertilizer producers. They are holding unclaimed quotas in their warehouses and are not receiving the planned revenue. “The goods are tied up. They were neither taken up by the domestic market nor can they be sold abroad. As I said earlier, in the current global situation, enterprises could easily sell fertilizers on the foreign market, and at a higher price. For example, nitrogen fertilizers are 1,5 times more expensive internationally than what we supply to the domestic market,” the head of state stated.
“For the coming year, it is proposed to increase fertilizer purchases by another 18% to ensure the planned growth of agricultural production. This is understandable. Consequently, even more funds will be needed, about Br3 billion in total. So will be real sources of financing,” Aleksandr Lukashenko stated. “To make mineral fertilizers more affordable for farmers and ensure the full drawdown of quotas, the government has developed new approaches.”
Specifically, the Council of Ministers proposes that half be paid for from the national budget, with funds directed straight to the manufacturing plants. For the other half, it is proposed to use agricultural organizations’ own funds, loans, and local budgets. The producer will ship the goods only after full payment. Control over implementation will be entrusted to the regional governors.
The head of state requested concrete calculations to show new scheme’s impact on fertilizer prices for rural residents. “What concerns us is the money we are paying and the efficiency of that money, rather than quotas above all. And another thing: will the innovation eliminate the practice of emergency appeals to the president for additional resources? Most importantly, will it motivate a given director to work harder and more efficiently, given that we are solving his problems with collective effort?” Aleksandr Lukashenko outlined a number of questions.
