Regional News

Hiring the right people, paying decent salaries, and following the manufacturing technology are the components to secure success and profitability of an agricultural enterprise. Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Rumas made the statement after visiting two agricultural enterprises – OAO Begomlskoye and OAO Torguny – in Dokshitsy District, Vitebsk Oblast on 26 April, BelTA has learned.

Sergei Rumas said: “We’ve been made familiar with enterprises taken over by investors. For two years they’ve been under the new management and we can see the results. For instance, many indicators in OAO Torguny have increased by 40-60%. The main indicator of success is the growth of salaries as the head of state demands it. In March 2019 salaries at this enterprise increased by over 40% in comparison with March 2018.”

The size of the average salary is modest for now – Br640. However, according to the investor, the average salary in OAO Torguny will be raised to the equivalent of $500 by late 2020 – early 2021. “We can see that the investor cares not only about running a profitable business but also about paying decent salaries to the people working on this land. Labor productivity will surely grow at an outstripping pace with an attitude like that,” Sergei Rumas added.

UP Molochnaya Pravda, a daughter enterprise of OAO Turov Dairy Industrial Complex, has been running OAO Torguny since 2018. OAO Torguny represents a fine example of wise businesslike attitudes and agribusiness technology dictatorship as the authorities sometimes phrase it.

Director of UP Molochnaya Pravda Igor Chernyavsky said that all the fields had been digitized and all the vehicles had been equipped with tracking beacons. The rolling fleet was greatly renewed with the arrival of the new management. The company’s development plan provides for doubling the size of the milking herd (up to 5,000 head of cattle). The Glinnoye complex is being reconstructed and the construction of the Vetera dairy farm is about to start bearing in mind the goal. In 2020 a new facility to house 2,400 head of milking cattle is supposed to be built.

Igor Chernyavsky said: “One can say we’ve been extinguishing the fire over the course of one year. It is my subjective opinion. Although I cannot say we’ve taken over a weak enterprise.” The new management focused on quality parameters. The new management signed a contract with a private company, which provides consultations about proper cattle feeding and forage procurement methods and evaluates work done in the fields and at various facilities of the enterprise.

The investor believes OAO Torguny has a large potential, the company has good human resources, and is ready to raise salaries in exchange for good work.

Sergei Rumas concluded: “From the very start the investors started shaping the technology the right way. Malfunctions at any stage can lead to missed targets. We see that plans for 2020 include making the enterprise highly profitable in the area of milk and crop production.”

OAO Begomlskoye is another enterprise in the raw materials zone of OAO Turov Dairy Industrial Complex. OAO Vitebskdrev owns 100% of the company’s shares as of November 2017. OAO Begomlskoye has two dairy farms with 1,362 head of cattle, including 720 cows. A major project is being implemented to modernize the Dobrun dairy farm. The modernized farm will need highly trained specialists to run it. In turn, the specialists will need homes to live in. Proposals were made to give them four apartments in an apartment house slated for construction or to build individual cottages for them.

The prime minister said: “Human resources are what matters. It is unavoidable. The construction of facilities is not the most important thing. Unfortunately, we cannot secure the country’s average milk output levels in half of the new facilities. It is food for thought for everyone responsible for Belarusian agriculture.”

Vitebsk Oblast Governor Nikolai Sherstnev agreed with the statement: it is important to prevent a situation where no specialists will be available to operate modern equipment.

Apart from that, OAO Begomlskoye launched a farm tourism project in the village of Margovitsa in 2017. The site is located near a wildlife sanctuary. The company intends to combine the production of organic food and the provision of recreation services at this farm stay. A lot has been done already. Premises have been prepared to keep chickens, geese, ducks, sheep, and horses. Some other structures have been built as well. However, since OAO Begomlskoye’s business plan was adjusted, the implementation deadline and payback periods were shifted. It is now necessary to build a farm for 250 head of cattle and a grain storage warehouse. “We have the documents and results of the expert evaluation. We just need to decide whether we should go ahead or not. And fast. Then we will be ready to do the work,” Chairman of the Dokshitsy District Executive Committee Oleg Pinchuk explained reasons behind the delay.

Sergei Rumas responded by saying: “You should go ahead with the first stage that has been authorized already. Build the farm for 250 head of cattle and the grain storage warehouse, dig a lake, and make hay towers. You should proceed with the rest in a routine manner.”

Prime Minister of Belarus Sergei Rumas is in Vitebsk Oblast on a working trip on 26-27 April. He was made familiar with the manufacturing and financial state and development prospects of OAO Begomlskoye, the dairy farm Vetera of OAO Torguny, with progress in the spring field work. Sergei Rumas also laid flowers in the memorial complex Shunevka. Later on the prime minister is expected to visit OAO Polotsk-Steklovolokno where he will take a look at the current state and development prospects of the company. The accomplishment and beautification of the city of Polotsk will be reviewed. On 27 April Sergei Rumas is expected to visit the oil refinery OAO Naftan to review the company’s financial performance, the state of the market of oil products, and the fulfillment of the company’s investment projects.