Agribusiness in Belarus, Russia & Eurasia
The Republic of Belarus is a midsized, landlocked, and authoritarian nation located in Eastern Europe between Russia and Poland. A former republic of the Soviet Union, Belarus attained its national independence in 1991. However, amongst former soviet republics, Belarus remains the one with the closest ties and political relationship to the Russian Federation. With a total territory of little over 207.000 square kilometers, Belarus is somewhat smaller than Kansas. Geographically, Belarus is a predominantly flat country with a substantial amount of marshlands and lakes. Belarus has a total population of almost 10 million citizens, more than 8% of which are ethnic Russians. Similarly, more than 75% of the Belarussian population lives in an urban setting, notably the capital city of Minsk, which has approximately 2 million inhabitants. Currently, Belarus’ annual gross domestic product (GDP) is of US$160 billion. Furthermore, its national economy has experienced sluggish and even negative economic growth in recent years largely due to the drop in international commodity prices and the slowdown of the Russian economy. Belarus’ national economy is divided into 9% agriculture, 41% manufacturing, and 50% services. Meanwhile, the agriculture industry utilizes about 44% of the national territory, while another 43% is forested. Likewise, Belarus’ agricultural industry employs some 9% of the national labor force, while manufacturing employs about 33% and services employ another 58%.
In terms of natural resources, Belarus has timber, peat, oil & natural gas, granite, limestone, marl, chalk, sand, gravel, and clay. Within manufacturing, the national industry is focused on metal-cutting machinery, tractors, trucks, earthmovers, motorcycles, televisions, synthetic fibers, fertilizers, textiles, radios, and refrigerators. Meanwhile, the country’s agricultural industry has as main products grain, potatoes, vegetables, sugar beets, flax, beef, and milk. In terms of trade, Belarus belongs to the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union, alongside Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. Belarus’ main trade partners are Russia, the United Kingdom, the Ukraine, Germany, and China. It is important to mention that, in recent years, Belarus has served as a commercial intermediary between western markets and Russia given the economic sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union against Moscow. This article explores the status of land distribution and grain production in Belarus.
Agribusiness in Belarus, Russia & Eurasia
Throughout recent years, the average per capita protein intake of animal origin amongst the Belarusian population has been of 52 grams daily. Meanwhile, cereals, roots, and tubers supply some 38% of the average food energy intake in Belarus. Simultaneously, land distribution in Belarus has evolved throughout the last several decades. Back in 1992, permanent pastures and meadows in the country covered about 3.1 million hectares, while arable land covered another 6 million hectares and permanent crops accounted for merely 177.000 hectares. More recently, in 2014, permanent pastures and meadows still accounted for approximately 2.8 million hectares, while arable land represented some 5.7 million hectares and permanent crops had decreased to cover less than 120.000 hectares. Finally, the domestic cereals market in Belarus has also transformed substantially throughout this period. In 1992, the country devoted about 2.6 million hectares of land to the production of cereals and produced approximately 7.1 million metric tons annually. Meanwhile, in 2014, Belarus devoted little over 2.4 million hectares of land to cereals production and yielded more than 9 million metric tons.
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