It Was Beginning To Dawn On Lukashenko That He Had Suffered A Massive Failure

In the Footsteps of a Dictator's Trip.

As he had promised earlier, Lukashenko set out on a tour of farms in the Gomel region. In the Zhitkovichi District, he and his entourage visited a farmer well-known in the region Mikhail Shrub.

As the Gomel-based newspaper “Flagstok” aptly noted, a huge tent for guests was set up near the silo storage facilities:

“Mikhail Shrub’s prosperous farm in the village of Khilchitsy served as the backdrop. The same stunt involving the silo pits of local farms could have ended much more tragically.”

An eloquent exchange then took place between the ruler and the chairman of the local district executive committee. Vladimir Antonenko confidently stated that he sees no particular problems in the region’s development: “We have everything. What’s needed is discipline and adherence to proper procedures.”


Lukashenko, apparently, wasn’t very convinced by this: “There are always problems, but you say there aren’t any because they should be solved locally. Everything that we can—and even cannot—do from the state’s side, through central government bodies, has been resolved to the fullest extent possible.”

Moreover, he added, with this level of support and assistance, agricultural organizations should be delivering corresponding results—or at the very least performing no worse than peasant farms.

And when things are going well for him [Mikhail Shrub] but not so well for you somewhere else, the question arises: why? Why not learn from him? He’s a treasure trove. Just go and copy what he does.

And there really is a lot to learn from him. The farmer compared the efficiency of his farm with that of the neighboring OJSC “Turovshchina,” which had previously absorbed three local collective farms.

According to Shrub, “Turovshchina” has more land, the land is twice as good in quality, and the investments in the enterprise are several times greater than his. At the same time, he sells twice as much milk, producing 7 metric tons per hectare of land, compared to his competitor’s 1 metric ton. On top of that, he pays his workers twice as much.

It seems that Lukashenko himself has begun to realize that something is amiss with the “preserved” collective farms, since he’s starting to give local officials such practical advice.

The problem is that there’s no one to suggest he do the same: copy and implement a tried-and-true method of managing agriculture (and not just agriculture).

And he himself, it seems, isn’t ready for this yet, pretending that he’s already done everything necessary.

Artem Sinitsyn, “Solidarnast”

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