In all regions of the country, representatives of trade unions and the State Control Committee will conduct monitoring, during which it will be analyzed how the work on laying and storing vegetables in stabilization funds is organized. Employees of the Ministries of Agriculture and Antimonopoly Regulation and Trade will also join the raids on the ground. This was reported to BelTA by the press service of the Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus.
In previous years, the Federation of Trade Unions has repeatedly drawn attention to the problem of shortage of domestic fruit and vegetable products on the market. As the results of the trade union price monitoring showed, often in the winter-spring season, traditional Belarusian vegetables – cabbage, beets, onions – were missing in the required amount on the shelves of stores. Their place was taken by imported ones, the price of which was noticeably higher. And this is despite the fact that much more such products are grown in the country than is necessary for domestic consumption.
In this regard, trade unions made a proposal to improve the work of stabilization funds. As a result, in October of this year, the Government adopted Resolution No. 658 “On stabilization funds of goods”. This document contains a number of innovations, which, among other things, reflect the proposals of trade unions. Thus, the organizations responsible for the storage of vegetables for the off-season period, the volumes necessary for the sale of products, the schedules of its delivery to trade organizations are clearly defined. In addition, there are clear requirements for contracts between organizations that store products and sell them on the market.
“The new rules stipulate that each of the parties assumes certain obligations: those who put vegetables in storage provide the necessary volume and conditions for their storage, and trade organizations guarantee that they will pick up these products in accordance with the developed schedules and at a set price. All this will help to avoid situations that were noted in previous years, when manufacturers, unsure that their products would be bought on the domestic market, massively sold them abroad, and there was a shortage of them on the domestic market at certain moments,” the Federation of Trade Unions said. – To date, the laying of vegetables and apples in the stabilization funds has almost been completed. And, according to preliminary estimates, the volume of vegetables and apples in stabilization funds is significantly higher than last year. Whether there are enough of them in each region, whether there are shortcomings and violations of the storage conditions of these products, what provisions are laid down in the contracts for the supply of goods from stabilization funds, will be evaluated by representatives of trade unions and the State Control during the raids.”
A source: https://www.belta.by