February 24 2005, 13:00 BelTA

Belarus to harvest over 6.7 million tonnes of grain

Current grain planting in Belarus will be characterized by strict control of technology maintenance and quality of works, - said Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Provision, Vasiliy Pavlovskiy.

He also said that yearly grain losses in the Republic make nearly 1 million tonnes only because of violation of planting technology or terms of planting, putting less mineral fertilizers, bad machinery restoration. This year Belarus is going to harvest not less than 6.7 million tonnes of grain.

In general, the Republic is ready for spring planting much better than last year. Around 97 percent of planting material is of high standard. The volume of mineral fertilizers for spring plantings is by 80,000 tonnes more than last year.