In particular, due to mass exports to Russia, as a result, Belarusian stores in March-April were filled with small, rare and frequent rotten potatoes.
The state regulation of prices introduced by Belarus authorities led to a potato deficiency in the spring of 2025. Alexander Lukashenko’s opponents of a regime have accused him of an economic failure, which led to the lack of the country’s major food product. Politico reported it.
Price restrictions established back in October 2022 to prevent inflation, made the cultivation of potatoes not available for farmers. This, according to critics, reduced the motivation of farmers who began to sell the yield to Russia, where prices were higher.
“If you know the history of the Soviet Union, you understand that when people have no motivation, it’s impossible to make them well,” said Lev Lviv, director of the Beroc Analytical Center.
In 2024, Belarus raised 3.1 million tons of potatoes – one million less a year before. According to Beroc, in March, Potatoes in Russia are more than twice as high as Belarus. The country has exported nearly 200 thousand tons of potatoes to the Russian Federation, which has become its main supplier.
However, in December 2024, the authorities introduced a temporary ban on exporting potatoes. According to LVIV, many farmers began to label the healthy potatoes that were damaged to continue selling it to Russia.
As a result, Belarusian stores in March-April were filled with small, rare and frequent rotten potatoes.
“It shows how Lukashenko and his administration can artificially create a shortage of goods that are sufficient,” said Ales Alakhnovich, economic advisor to Belarus’s opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
However, the official position is different.
“We have made changes to the government’s resolution several times, considering the real situation. Thus, all negative trading and production trends have been restrained in the bud. Price regulation has not caused any imbalance. There are sufficient goods on shelves, prices said in the statement of the first Deputy Minister of Antimonopoly Republic of the Republic of the Republic of the Republic of the March Republic in March.
In April, the authorities of the Republic of Belarus raised the maximum price of ordinary potatoes, and by the end of May they canceled the ban on food imports from EU countries classified as “unfriendly”.
In June, Lukashenko said the lack of potatoes was intentional, along with uncontrolled exports in Russia.
“This is again proving the inability of the policy pursued by Lukashenko,” said Vladimir Astapenko, a representative of the United Transition Cabinet of Tikhalovskaya in Brussels.
Earlier we wrote that the Belarusian Enterprise Agro -Production It uses raw materials taken in parts of the Kherson region that are temporarily seized by Russians, and supplies have finished products in the form of rapeseed oil in EU countries.
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Source: korrespondent
I’m Liza Grey, an experienced news writer and author at the Buna Times. I specialize in writing about economic issues, with a focus on uncovering stories that have a positive impact on society. With over seven years of experience in the news industry, I am highly knowledgeable about current events and the ways in which they affect our daily lives.