President Belarus addresses crisis in pig industry

In the last 2 years, pig production in Belarus dropped by 12%. In some regions, for example the Homel region, the output even halved. The pig population in the country slumped by 11% or 290,000 animals, Lukashenko estimated.

Moreover, pig farms across Belarus are getting less efficient. In every second district, pig mortality increased, while the average litter is now 8% lower than in 2021, Lukashenko said. Some improvements are observed in 2023, though they hardly change the overall picture.“Against the backdrop of the disastrous past years, this year’s progress in restoring the livestock and pork production can be described as insignificant,” Lukashenko said. “This means there is an increase, but it is at the level of an arithmetic error. Efficiency indicators a continued decrease, and the number of loss-making pig farms keeps going up.”