Who Is To Blame For The Potato Disgrace?
- 26.05.2025, 8:40
One of the main causes of scarcity is price regulation.
In Belarus, people have been complaining for several months about the lack of potatoes in stores and markets, and if they are available, they are of poor quality and very expensive. At the same time, Belarus has been actively selling potatoes to Moldova and a number of other countries. "Belsat" tried to understand why the potato crisis arose in the country.
The least amount of potatoes for the last decade
According to the National Statistical Committee of Belarus, in 2024, the country harvested the least amount of potatoes for the last 10 years. Only 3,110.9 thousand tons of potatoes, which is 22.7% less than in 2023.
And all types of farms harvested less potatoes: agricultural organizations, and farms (organizations created by one person or family), and subsidiary farms (what people harvested on their plots).
Also, for the last 10 years in Belarus, the area on which potatoes are planted has been annually decreasing. If in 2015 it grew on 266.7 thousand hectares, in 2024 - only on 141.1 thousand hectares. This was mainly due to the fact that people on subsidiary plots planted less potatoes - they are the ones that occupy the largest areas. Although other categories of farms over time planted potatoes on smaller and smaller areas.
As for the yield, last year it was 221 centners per hectare, which is quite good and is approaching the levels of 2018, 2020 and 2022.
It turns out that basically less potatoes are grown in Belarus because people don't plant them.
How much potatoes do Belarusians need?
But more potatoes are grown in Belarus than people eat in the country. According to Belstat, per capita consumption of potatoes has not changed much in recent years. In 2023, one Belarusian ate an average of 162 kg of potatoes per year. If this figure is multiplied by 9,109,280 people living in Belarus at the beginning of 2025, it turns out that the whole country needs about 1,474.3 tons of potatoes per year. This is 2.1 times less than the amount harvested. Where is the rest?
The Year of the Best Potato Sales
In 2024, Belarus sold 193,800 tons of potatoes to Russia and became the largest potato supplier to that country, surpassing even Egypt, RIA Novosti wrote. In November 2024, TASS wrote that sales of Belarusian potatoes increased by 60.8%.
In addition, while the Belarusians were sitting without potatoes, the Moldovan media wrote that the main market of Chisinau was literally flooded with high-quality Belarusian potatoes. According to Eurostat, the last deliveries to Moldova were in January (1.68 thousand tons) and February (1.37 thousand tons) of 2025.
Also, over the past two years, Belarus has begun to sell potatoes to a number of countries, where deliveries used to be either much smaller or not at all, as in the case of Moldova. In addition to this country, there have been sales to Serbia, Northern Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Georgia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Estonia and Lithuania. A total of 61.2 thousand tons of potatoes worth €18.5 million were sold to these countries in 2024. Of this volume, Moldova accounted for almost two thirds. In 2023, supplies to these countries amounted to 47.4 thousand tons, and in 2022 did not even reach four thousand.
In the end, exports to Russia and a number of European countries came out substantial, according to an agricultural expert, former chairman of the collective farm Nikolai Lysenkov.
"After all, there are big holes in the budget, we need to give more revenue, but we have a catastrophic lack of exports - all the potatoes were sold abroad," he says to "Belsat."
The expert believes that sellers rushed to sell potatoes abroad because of price regulation, prohibiting producers and sellers to raise prices.
"We had one and a half rubles was the maximum established price for potatoes. It was possible to sell abroad for a dollar or more. Now the price in some countries is two dollars. That is, it was more profitable for the owners of these potatoes, who bought them from producers, to export them. Plus the state did not put any obstacles, as this is export revenue," continues the interlocutor.
Belarusians do not know how to store potatoes
In the expert's opinion, the problems with Belarusian potatoes began in part because of sanctions.
"We have limited access to technologies that allow potatoes to be preserved until spring. Our varieties are not in storage," says Nikolai Lysenkov.
What concerns only seed potatoes, they were indeed purchased in the European Union very little in 2024 - 618 tons. This is almost four times less than in 2023. And the EU has traditionally been a supplier of seed potatoes to Belarus.
If we look at the volumes of seed potatoes that Belarus bought from the EU in recent years until 2024, they were quite stable. Changes occurred in individual countries. For example, supplies from the Netherlands were significantly reduced, but were replaced by Germany. Imports from France "disappeared" in 2024, and from Poland - in 2021.
Lysenkov emphasizes that there are a number of other factors that caused Belarusians to face shortages. Among them is potato rotting.
"They didn't calculate that we have a lot of potatoes rotting. We have no storage facilities for potatoes to lie. Belarus can grow potatoes, but it cannot preserve them. And we still have a system of collective farms, where temporary leaders just think about how to stay in the chair, but not about how to store potatoes. Plus something is initially put aside in stabilization funds in the form of seeds. It should be taken into account that the gross yield of potatoes is not only marketable potatoes. And we have a prolonged spring. At this time, the young potatoes should already go, but this year - no," summarizes Nikolai Lysenkov.
For several months, Belarusians are so indignant about the situation with potatoes, that they massively record videos, showing the poor condition of potatoes and high prices for them. In mid-May, people shared that they found potatoes for Br2.69, but they look bad. At the market in Minsk, they found potatoes for Br8.5, but it's better not to look at such prices "with weak nerves," says user TikTok. But at least it's available, as there was a period when potatoes were impossible to find at all.
"Belsat" has calculated that the price of potatoes in Minsk has increased by 122% over the year.