Agriculture is on the rise. When investing in land gives good seedlings

According to the Belarus development forecast for 2027 approved by the President, our GDP will increase by 1.9 percent compared to the current year. Traditionally, farmers are expected to make a high contribution to this indicator. In the eight months of 2026, our agricultural production increased by 6.5 percent. At the same time, there is every reason to expect a record agro-export this year - more than $ 11 billion. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko:

- Our strategic goal is to create a high-tech, profitable agricultural sector. It is vital for us to maximize the existing potential of our agro-industrial complex, to deal with current problems, to think about tomorrow and even the day after tomorrow.

At a meeting on rural development and improving the efficiency of the agricultural sector, April 16, 2024.

After the collapse of the USSR, Belarus found itself in a situation of uncertainty. Market reformers, with the filing of their Western curators, inspired Belarusians about the incredible progressiveness of the post-industrial economy, the driver of which allegedly are services. So they advised focusing on the service sector, giving up on industry and agriculture as a hopeless archaic.

And the ideology of the free market economy, which clouded many minds at that time, prescribed “not to worry” about own production. It was believed that everything that was missing, from food to high-tech, could be freely bought in the markets. This, as time has shown, was an erroneous installation. Before Alexander Lukashenko was elected President, Belarus also blindly followed the “friendly” recommendations of reformers. Therefore, deindustrialization was in full swing in the country, factories were stopped, agricultural enterprises were destroyed, abandoned pastures and fields were overgrown with weeds. Thus, from 1990 to 1995, the volume of industrial production decreased by 37.2 percent. The output of the most important types of agricultural products decreased significantly: grain production fell 1.3 times, milk – 1.5 times, meat – 1.8 times. Unemployment increased. Inflation galloped. Today it has become obvious to many what the Western “partners” originally wanted, imposing reforms on us. They were well aware that in the process of their implementation, the real sector of the economy falls under the brunt of the blow. According to their plan, the local reformers had to destroy industry and agriculture with their own hands. Deprived of technological and food sovereignty, the country is doomed to be an obedient puppet in the hands of the West. And the way foreign “partners” manage those who become dependent on them is demonstrated by the long-suffering Ukraine. Today, it is ruthlessly used as a military battering ram against Russia, whose natural resources are needed by the West to overcome the crisis that has engulfed it.

Of course, in the 1990s, when the countries of the “golden billion” hypocritically played the role of a good friend, few could predict such a development. In 1994, a man came to power in Belarus who foresaw something similar. When I didn’t know how to do it, I listened to the West and did the opposite. Yes, because I knew we were competitors, they wouldn’t give us any good advice.

Therefore, the President decisively stopped the suicidal seizure, market de-industrialization and mass destruction of agricultural enterprises, which had already begun according to the recipes of visiting advisers. Despite the “friendly” advice to “stop burying money in the ground,” Alexander Lukashenko began to revive agriculture. Being a man of the people, the Belarusian leader perfectly understood that creative work on earth is the basis of the mental code of Belarusians, and the food security of the country is the foundation of its independence. Thanks to the principled position of the Head of our state, the domestic agricultural sector has been demonstrating sustainable development for three decades. For this purpose, several large-scale state programs for the development of agribusiness have been developed and implemented in the country. Today, we have not only fully ensured our food security, but we are helping many countries in the world to address the pressing problem of hunger. Last year, domestic agricultural products were supplied to 116 countries of the world. Its export revenue has grown almost 32 times since 1995, from $317 million to last year’s record $10 billion.

Another instructive fact is that Belarus now has to compete in foreign markets of agricultural products with Western countries focused on its large-scale exports. Those whose advisers at one time slyly advised Belarusians to give up on “archaic” agribusiness. In order to continue to withstand uncompromising competition, another large-scale state program “AIC of the Future” for 2026-2030 has been approved and is being implemented in our country. Along with maintaining 100% food security in Belarus, it provides for an increase in production volumes in the organizations of the Ministry of Agriculture by 15% with an increase in labor productivity by 30%. All this will be achieved thanks to high-tech, including digital, modernization of the domestic agricultural sector with an emphasis on entering new markets.

Congratulating farmers on their professional holiday in 2025, Alexander Lukashenko stressed that the country’s export potential is growing: “This high result was made possible thanks to the work of thousands of people for whom land is a source of inspiration and strength.” Planning remains the first and most important function of management. Because no sane entrepreneur will invest a ruble in a project without a business plan – an assessment of the market situation, anticipation of all opportunities and risks up to the reaction of competitors and force majeure circumstances. It is no accident that one of the classics of modern management, Henri Fayol, in his book General and Industrial Management, formulated the fundamental: “To lead is to foresee.” He argued that the ability to look into the future and make a plan of action is the main task of the leader.

History gives us convincing examples confirming this thesis. So, in the pre-war years in the USSR was forced industrialization, strengthened the army. This allowed the USSR to stand in the Great Patriotic War before the enemy, who managed to conquer almost the entire civilized Europe in a short time.

Four decades later, the leadership of this invincible superpower recklessly trusted the West’s verbal promises to admit it into its “family of civilized nations.” Today we know that this naive gullibility turned into an inglorious collapse for the USSR. Moreover, the fatal inability of the leaders of some of the remaining republics to foresee further developments led them to bloody conflicts and the loss of territories. After the election of President Alexander Lukashenko, Belarus took a different path. And the strengthening of our economic potential from year to year shows that this is the right path.

Valery Bainev, Doctor of Economic Sciences.