A Belarusian Radio expert described the 4.6 million tons of grain as a very high figure compared to other countries. However, the total harvest volume does not reflect agricultural efficiency. On a per-hectare basis, Belarus falls behind most of its neighbors and the European Union average.
Context: By mid-August, most of the grain and rapeseed crops in Belarus had already been harvested by farmers. By that time, Aleksandr Lukashenko had suggested twice that those who performed poorly during the harvest be sent to the army. During his visit to Brest on July 30, he explained that the goal was not to punish anyone or bolster the army’s ranks, but rather to give people the opportunity to prove themselves in a different line of work.
On August 3, 2026, Lizaveta Hlushakova, a junior research fellow at the Center for Political Science of the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, compared Belarus’s harvest with those of other countries on Aktualny Mikrafon, a program on Belarusian Radio’s First National Channel.
“Today’s figure: Belarus has harvested over 4.6 million tons of grain. Is that a lot or a little?” asked host Alena Shvaiko.
“I think that’s a great deal. Even compared to other countries, we have always stood out with our strong performance in this regard,” Hlushakova replied.
The expert did not specify which countries she was comparing Belarus to. However, the total harvest volume alone does not indicate agricultural efficiency. Countries differ greatly in terms of both land area and cultivated acreage. To make a fair comparison, one must consider yield, or how much grain a country harvests per hectare of cropland.
Compared to Russia, Belarus does indeed look better. Russia is one of the world’s leading producers of grain, including wheat. However, in 2025, it harvested only 34 centners of grains and legumes per hectare. In Belarus, the figure was nearly 4 centners higher. However, that is where the advantage ends. Belarus’s neighbors, including Ukraine, outperform it in terms of yield.
Latvia harvests about 5% more grain and legume crops per hectare than Belarus. Lithuania’s harvest is nearly 20% higher, while Poland’s is about a third higher.
Belarus also struggles to compete with the European Union’s average. In 2024, Belarus’s grain yield was just under 34 centners per hectare, while the EU’s average yield was about 50 centners. In other words, Belarus’s yield per hectare is not better than that of other countries in the region. Although Belarus outperforms Russia, it lags behind Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and the European Union as a whole.
