The Prime Minister visited the Tolochin Cannery
The Tolochin Cannery is a diversified enterprise. It grows potatoes, rapeseed, grains, fruits, and berries, produces natural juices, fruit and berry wines, and is the only producer of frozen french fries in Belarus.
– Our enterprise has great prospects, but we need to find money somewhere for six planned facilities. One of the largest is a potato storage facility for 20,000 tons, which would allow us to ensure the technological preservation of raw materials for french fries production. This is a specific production process that requires maintaining specific temperature, humidity, and other parameters during storage, – said **Anatoly Anyukhovsky, Director of the Cannery.**
After visiting all divisions of the enterprise, the Prime Minister noted its good development dynamics and the importance of the french fries production project not only for the region but for the country as a whole. This is the only such production facility in the republic. Even in the Russian Federation, there are only two such facilities, and they do not operate very stably. Consequently, the demand for the product is very high. The plant exports such potatoes to Russia, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.
However, they have only recently started mastering this new type of work, and the equipment is still being adjusted, while the technology is quite sensitive to the quality of the raw material – potatoes.
– A new storage facility is needed, the project is good, but it needs to be slightly cheaper. I think that within a month we will work out the financing scheme, and next year they can start construction. Anyway, they won't start before next year because the documentation needs to be examined. But the construction should not become a long-term project. A maximum of two years is allocated for this, but it is better to finish within a year and three months, – Roman Golovchenko instructed the enterprise management.
The Prime Minister also noted that there are enough storage facilities in the country to accommodate the entire harvested crop. For vegetables and some fruits, such as apples, the production volume far exceeds the consumption volume.
– Everything that needs to be stored for domestic consumption can be stored. Another issue is the quality of storage. There are different types of storage facilities, but even the simplest ones allow preserving the harvest in good condition until March. The new harvest appears only in May, June, and later. And these two or three months are critical to ensure the marketable condition of the products. To avoid withered apples and limp potatoes, storage facilities of a different type, working with different technologies, are needed. They are not difficult to build, but quite expensive. Therefore, we will gradually replace old storage facilities with new, modern ones.
The harvest this year is good not only for cereal crops but also for vegetables and fruits. They will be stocked for trade, public catering, and social institutions.
– We are taking measures to increase the guaranteed storage volumes by approximately 30 percent. And long-term contracts between trade facilities and suppliers, those who will store the harvest, should be concluded already now. The producer will know that their products will be purchased and by whom specifically, and retail chains will also be calm, knowing they don't need to search, as there is a stable supplier. About 40 percent of the total potato consumption volume has already been contracted. We will finalize this in the near future, prices will be more stable and will slightly decrease due to the abundant harvest, – the Prime Minister is convinced.
