Belarus is nearly in the centre of Europe between 51⁰ and 56⁰ North and 23⁰ and 32⁰ East. It borders on Poland in the west (see Figure 1), Lithuania in the northwest, Latvia in the north, Russia in the northeast and Ukraine in the south. It extends 560 km from north to south and 650 km from west to east. The average altitude is 160 m and the highest point is 345 m (the Dzerhinskaya mountain in Minsk region). The lowest place, 80-90 m is the valley of the Neman river, in Grodno region. Administratively, the territorial division of the Republic of Belarus as of 01.01.2000 consists of the following regions: Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Minsk city, Minsk and Mogiljov.

Belarusia became a nation in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries; from 1569 it was a part of the Federal State - Rech Pospolitaya, in the Lyblin union; from the end of the eighteenth century Belarusian lands were under Russian control. After the Great October revolution of 1917 the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic was formed; after 1922 it became part of the USSR by decree.

The Belarusian SSR was one of the most dynamic economic regions of the USSR in terms of rates of national economic activity; in the early nineteen eighties the republic topped the average level of the national per capita income in the USSR by 10 percent. It was the most prominent republic in the USSR in terms of agricultural production with a high level of intensification. Possessing 1.7 percent of the agricultural acreage and 2.7 percent of arable land, the republic produced 5.7 percent of the gross agricultural production, including 6.0 percent of the cattle in 1986-1990. In the All-Union division of labour Belarusia specialized in meat, milk, flax and potato production which was 5.9, 6.9, 25.9, and 14.5 percent of the total volume of their production in the country. In 1986-1990 the republic, where 3.5 percent of the USSR population lived, provided the All-Union fund with meat and meat products - 12.6 percent, milk and dairy produce - 14.6 percent, potatoes - 28.5 percent.

The public sector played the main role in agricultural production: collective farms, state farms and inter-economic associations. In the eighties the situation changed. The break-up of the economic system, after the political break-up of the USSR, caused a great number of irreversible phenomena. The state of Belarus was formed on the seventeenth of June 1990, in which since June 1994 the economic reforms have been headed by the first president Alexander Lukashenko.

Land reform was carried out under the Land Code of the Republic of Belarus and Government Decree "About the Land Reform in the Republic", of February 18, 1991. The Republic’s Act "About the Ownership of Land" defines two forms of land ownership: state and private. Private ownership is limited, and includes only personal plots and "lachas". According to the referendum of 1996 large plots of land for farming, can not be privately owned. Land of collective farms, state farms and peasant farms, when transferred to private farmers, remains in state ownership. Large collective and state farms are the main commodity producers. The possibility for voluntary reform and choice of farming system is granted to collective and state farms. Creation of peasant farms is fulfilled according to the Act "About peasant farming". Members of a peasant farm have the right of freehold possession of plots no greater than 50 hectares in size, personal land included.

Figure 1. Location of Belarus

Agricultural pricing in Belarus is centrally controlled. State support of rural and agricultural production is in the form of soft credit, rural construction and restructuring of agricultural producers debts. Although Belarus does not have an official anti-privatisation policy, this is a characteristic of many branches of government and it has a selective, "creeping" character. The economic crisis of the agrarian complex is mostly because reform is based on a directive administration which aims to make sure that agricultural structures remain in centralized control.

Demography. In 2000 the population of the Republic was in excess of 10,000,000 (Table 1). The main feature of the recent demographic situation is an increasing loss of rural population; these catastrophic changes through migration of young people from the country to the town, causing a change in the demographic structure of the rural population and a higher death rate due to the worsening environmental situation after the Chernobyl accident. Historically Belarus is a multinational country; according to the 1999 census more than 130 nationalities and peoples live in the republic. Belarusians make up the bulk of the population - 81.2 percent, Russians 11.4 percent, Poles 3.9 percent, Ukrainians 2.4 percent, Jews 0.3 percent and other nationalities 0.8 percent. The average density of the population is 48 people per km².

Agriculture and Crop Production(see Table 2 land area of the Republic is 20,759,600 ha; including 9,281,500 ha of agricultural land. Ploughed land is 6,181,700 ha (as at 1 January, 2000), i.e. 30 per cent of the area. Most arable land is in the Central Zone - in Minsk, Grodno and Mogiljov regions arable land makes up 33-36 per cent. Crops vary according to zones. The northern area is a flax growing region; as much as 34 per cent of flax production and processing is here. The central area leads in producing grain, vegetables and potatoes (31-40 per cent). The south leads in sugar beet (37 per cent).The most important branch is grain; more than a half of the crop area is under cereals. Winter rye and wheat are of the greatest importance. Barley and oats are the most important fodder cereals.

From the early nineteen nineties changes took place in the structure of the arable area because of the complicated economic situation in the processing industry and unsettled markets: thus in the grain area winter rye was considerably reduced (from 917,000 ha in 1990 to 64,000 ha in 1999). This led to an increase of wheat, but the barley area declined from 1,030,000 ha in 1990 to 811,000 ha in 1999. The area under flax (often referred to as "Northern silk") fell from 149,000 ha in 1990 to 76,000 ha in 1999.

Organization of the rape oil industry has encouraged considerable growth of the rape area (from 49 000 ha in 1990 to 136,000 ha in 1999). The area under vegetables has doubled in the last decade. Land under sugar beet and potatoes is stable. This indicates that their market in the republic is sound enough.

Structural changes mentioned above have been accompanied by yield decreases in all main crops (Table 3). Cereal yields fell by 39.5 per cent, potatoes - 16.3; sugar beets - 32.2, vegetables - 27.0, flax - 23 per cent.

The yield decrease is caused by a decline in all basic production financing and by less intensive inputs. The tractor fleet of agricultural enterprises decreased from 126,200 units in 1990 to 90,500 in 1999; combine - harvester fleet from 30,300 to 19,500 units. Mineral fertilizer use fell from 277 kg/ha in 1990 to 109 kg/ha in 1999.

Topography. Belarus is predominantly lowland - flat plains occupy 60 percent of the territory, plateaux 10 percent, and highland hilly areas nearly 30 percent. The north-west has broken and highland relief, while in the south-eastern part the land is mainly level. The south of the Republic is occupied by vast areas of Belarusian Polesje (wood land) which is a large waterlogged flat depression stretching for 450 km from the river Bug to the Dniepr. The relief of Belarus is divided into 4 regions:

The climate of Belarus is mild and comparatively moist, under the considerable influence of the Atlantic Ocean. It can be characterized as transitional between marine and continental. Photosynthetic active radiation (FAR) in summer (June) on the Republic varies from 250.5 to 320.0 MJ/m². The growing period lasts on the average 209 days in the southwest, 178-190 days in the northeast and in the centre (Table 10).

The average temperature of the warmest month (July) in most of Belarus ranges from 17 ⁰C in the north to 19 ⁰C in the southeast. The sum of daily mean temperatures above 10⁰ (during the period of active growth) varies from 2100⁰ in the northern border to 2500⁰ in the south of the Republic. Belarus is characterized by sufficient humidity; mean annual rainfall is 600-650 mm in the central and north-eastern part and is a little less than 600 mm in the low-lying part. During warm periods rainfall constitutes 70-72 percent of the annual rainfall. Maximum rainfall in most cases is in July, August, and in the southwest in June. Relative air humidity in May and June is the lowest, and increases towards the end of summer. The proportion of heat and moisture resources in most districts of Belarus is expressed by a humidity index - 1.2 (in the south of the Republic) and 1.7 - 1.8 (in the north-east). In spring one can observe full soaking of the soil, and in summer evaporation exceeds rainfall. It leads to a considerable decrease of moisture in the upper layer of soil where most root systems of grassland vegetation are located. During these periods grass growth is reduced by 40-60 percent. Depending on heat and moisture supply the territory of Belarus can be divided into 3 agro-climatic regions (Figure 2):

1. Northern damp temperate
2. Central warm moderately humid
3. Southern warm unstable humid

Each agro-climatic region is divided in two by the "contour line" of the number of days with temperature from 5 to 150 over the area: in the western part where the number of such days is more than 110, and the eastern part with less than 110 days.

Figure 2. Agro-climatic regions of Belarus

Landscape The republic is within one natural zone - the temperate continental forest type - and its landscape is rather uniform. Taking into consideration transitional zonal features within this type, several subtypes of landscape can be distinguished - mixed forest and marshy woodland subtype. Boreal "tajozny" subtype of landscape occupies two thirds of the republic and is common in the northern and central parts. Forest landscape constitutes about 30 per cent and is characterized by the prevalence of conifers and by about 300 cubic meters per hectare of timber of medium-age. Agricultural use of land is hindered by medium, and sometimes high (12-22 per cent) concentration of boulders and by steep slopes. Natural pastures are waterlogged and bush-infested, which makes their agricultural development difficult. The land is drained by such large rivers as the western Dvina and the Nieman.

The subtype "subpolessky" marshy woodland landscape occupies about a third of Belarusian territory, in the south. Forest landscape constitutes more than 30 percent and broad-leaf species prevail. Lowland grass and bushy-grass marshes are widespread over this area. The largest tracts of lowland marshes have been drained and developed. More than 30 per cent of landscape area in marshy woodland is used for agriculture. The landscape is drained and formed by the flood plains of large rivers such as the Dnieper, the Pripyat, the Beresina, the Soge, and the western Bug. Meadows and grass marshes are widely used for haymaking and grazing.

Plant cover is represented by forest, meadow and marshy phytocoenoses. There are about 1,650 species of vascular plants with grasses predominating (91 per cent, about 1,500 species) in the modern Belarusian flora. Apart from higher plants the Belarusian flora includes more than 1,000 species of higher mushrooms, about 500 species of algae, 600 species of lichens and 400 moss-like species. Woodlands occupy 8,676,100 ha, of which 7,371,700 ha are directly under forests, that is 35 per cent of the territory of the republic. Meadows take up 3,286,100 ha (15.8 percent of the total land area). Continental meadows prevail (94.8 percent), while are still in their natural state, which is 11.5 per cent of the country’s territory. The unique forest, forest-lake, meadow and marshy landscape is conserved in reserves and national parks (see Table 11).

There are also 90 reserves of national importance (810,100 ha) and 716 of local importance (4,122 ha). The especially preserved and protected natural areas of Belarus cover 1,650,000 ha (7.9 percent of the country’s territory).

Historical Background.Traditionally livestock production in Belarus has been developed on raising horned cattle, since there is a wealth of pasture grasses on natural forage lands. It is no coincidence that the red Belarussian cattle breed was formed, and during a whole millennium has remained the most important factor of practical livestock production in the republic. Unfortunately, lack of proper breeding in the region led to almost absolute loss of this breed which in recent years was completely removed by more productive black and white breeds. At present black and white stock from Germany and Holland are the main breed in all regions of Belarus.

Present Status in Livestock Production.Livestock include 4,300,000 head of cattle, 3,500,000 pigs, 30,000,000 poultry and a small number of horses, sheep and goats. Results of the statistical account for 2000 are presented in Table 12. Large public and collective farms specialize in cattle and pig production while goat, horse and sheep are typical of private farms belonged. The rural population of the republic also keep considerable amounts of cattle, sheep and pigs.

Cattle breeds include: Red Belarussian cattle are a branch of red West-Slavic cattle, descended from short-horned cattle of Ancient Egypt. Under the influence of ecological conditions red West-Slavic cattle gave a number of landraces, from which in nineteenth century the following breeds were formed: Polish, Belarussian-Lithuanian and red Danish.
Afterwards from Belarussian-Lithuanian breed a red Belarussian was selected. In creation of red Belarussian breed group the native feed and climatic conditions had the main importance. By the beginning of the twentieth century purebred native herds were already in all provinces in Belarus. For breeding herds of red Belarussian cattle average indices of milk fatness are 4.0 - 4.2 percent; protein content in milk - 3.6 - 3.8 percent. Body weight in average is 500-540 kg, that of servicing bulls is 800-850 kg.

After 1990 substantial changes in livestock production began, first of all significant recession in livestock numbers as well as production took place, that had been caused by changes in economic situation in republic (Table 13).

Vegetation Types. Forage resources are mostly from one vegetation type - forest-meadow - which covers three of the agro-climatic regions - northern, central, and almost all southern. Only a small part of the extreme south (near the Ukrainian border) is another vegetation type.

According to the classification (Shklar, 1973) forest-meadow zone for 97.8 percent of the republic’s territory; within the zone (> 600 mm) pasture ecological conditions differ sharply depending on relief: humid flat and sloping areas are the main type - dry valley pastures, low-lying lands with additional ground water are the second type - lowland pastures (see Table 14).

The pasture area in the republic accounts for nearly 2,975,000 ha including 2,920,000 ha of dry valley pastures on slight-undulating plains and hilly areas and 55,000 ha of lowland pastures on low-lying places and hollows between hills. Most pastures are improved. According to an assessment by the Belarus Research Institute of Experimental Botany (San’ko, 1983) the potential of natural dry valley pastures makes up about 1 ton of dry mass, that of lowland pastures - 1.5 - 2 tons. After fundamental improvement of these types of pastures their productivity increases in 3 -3.5 times.

Characteristics of Pasture Vegetation.Dry valley pastures are divided in 3 groups:

• Dry valley pastures on hilly areas (northern and central regions) contain the following typical plants: Nardus stricta, Festuca rubra, F. ovina, Poa pratensis, Anthoxanthum odoratum, Achillea millefolium, Plantago.
• Dry valley pastures on plains (southern region) have the following typical plants: Agrostis gigantea, Poa pratensis, Festuca pratensis, Trifolium pratensis, Trifolium repens, Taraxacum officinale.

Dry valley pastures on areas with difficult run-offs - hollows- are characterized by the following plants Deschampsia caespitosa, Poa pratensis, Ranunculus acer, Ranunculus bulbosum, Carex:

• Lowlands pastures on low-lying areas (part of northern, central and western regions) have following typical plants: Deschampsia caespitosa, Poa palustris, P. pratensis, Agrostis gigantea, Ranunculus acer, R. bulbosum, Carex.
• Pasture vegetation of forest-steppe zone in the republic (<400 mm) grows on plains and has the following typical species: Bromus erectus, Poa compressa, Lotus corniculatus, Trifolium pratense, T. repens.
• Lowland pastures on hollows (part northern and part south): Deschampsia caespitosa, Poa palustris, Poa pratensis, Agrostis gigantean, Ranunculus acer, Ranunculus bulbosum, Carex.

The present situation in natural forage production. The total area of natural grasslands (Tables 15 and 16) is 2,974,800 ha (14.3 percent of the total territory) including 2,212,500 ha of improved pastures ( 24 percent of the agricultural land). Natural herbage makes up half of the pasturelands. This gives an opportunity to increase roughage production (pasture forage, silage made from under cured hay, haylage, hay and others) by improving natural grasslands.

There are large areas with natural pastures and hay in the south of the Republic: Brest region - 598,000 ha and Gomel region - 534.000 ha. The area of pasture is 1.3 times higher than the area of hay lands. Estimation of the qualitative structure of natural grasslands shows a high proportion of improved areas: 77 percent of hay lands and 72 percent of pastures. Most of these lands are in satisfactory technical and cultural condition. At the same time the degradation of natural grasslands is increasing. First of all floral completeness of natural and sown plant communities is decreasing. Negative tendencies have taken place during the last years in terms of supplying livestock with grassland forage. In 1990 grassland forage made up 59 percent of green forage, but today it has fallen to 43 percent. The efficiency of pastures and hay during the last five years has declined by 25 percent (Table 17).

This is caused by an insufficient application of mineral fertilizers, mainly nitrogenous ones (Table 18) which leads to a further loss of importance of pastures and hay in forage production.

1. Poor soils, small areas as the result of a complex broken relief, boulders and bushes, water erosion (southern part) are the main restricting factors of natural pasture efficiency.
2. Low level of material and technical inputs; first of all insufficient application of mineral fertilizers, lack of machinery.
3. Imperfection of organizational and technological decisions that lead to systematic overgrazing of grass, their unseasonable use, improvement and degradation.
4. Insufficient selectivity of pasture plants according to their productivity and resistance to toxic influence of aluminium ions (Al³⁺) and hydrogen ions (H⁺) which make for soil acidity and is typical of sod-podzolic soils of pasture lands.
5. Absence of a legal basis able to regulate pasture management and feed production.

The main direction of pasture improvement before 1990 was intensification based on the expensive inputs of drainage and application of large amounts of mineral fertilizers. Today, due to the sharp decline of state investments in improvement of natural forage lands, it has become urgent to use methods that can increase the productivity of pastures and hay lands. The Belarusian Research Institute for Improvement and Meadowland Farming has given scientific proof of resources-preserving technologies. Methods of improving pastures and hay lands are included in three alternative systems of grassland farming: technogenic mineral, biological and mixed. Various systems of hay land farming are used due to the presence of different types of natural forage, different types of material and technical possibilities of collective and state farms and their location nearby or far from industrial centres. It allows increasing productivity potential of pastures and hay lands with the least expense.

In 2000 forage production on natural and sown pastures and hay lands had decreased by 30 percent compared with 1996. Therefore it is necessary to increase production by 5 percent annually during the next six-year period. In order to ensure the planned increase it is important to receive state assistance in the supply of machinery, for improving meadowlands, and change the mineral fertilizer supply to agricultural producers. An increase in nitrogen nutrition of grasses is the most important factor for an increase in pasture and hay productivity. Most types of meadow lack nitrogen; it influences not only production processes and photosynthetic structure but also the renewal of humus in the soil. The main alternative source of nitrogen in meadow today and in future is symbiotic fixation through the use of legumes.

Use of legumes.Use of biologically fixed nitrogen in meadowland farming in all zones is the main direction that can contribute to the productivity increase on pastures and hay lands. Perennial pasture legumes in mixtures, created by rationalization of species, are able to supply up to 80-120 kg/ha of nitrogen into feeds and 150-200 kg/ha by using irrigation. Research work by Grodno State Agrarian University in this field showed that use of legumes on a pasture over 5-6 years enriches the soil with nitrogen by 200-250 kg/ha in the roots, and with humus by 7-11 t/ha which is equivalent to 40-48 t/ha of manure (in terms of nitrogen content).

Different methods of meadow improvement can be used to achieve the benefits of biological nitrogen fixation:

• According to research carried out by Grodno State Agrarian University, sod sowing of 5 kg/ha of Trifolium pratense into a pasture gave 4.5-5.0 thousand feed units per hectare; sowing of 3 kg/ha of Trifolium repens gave 9-11 thousands of feed units per hectare over 5 years with surface improvement of the old-sown grass stand. By 2005 the possible area sod-sown to legumes could be 500,000 ha.
• Using a range of legumes with grasses enables them to be sown on pastures and hay lands: on cultivated soils Trifolium and Medicago can be used, on poor non cultivated soils Melilotus can be used, and on sloping land Galega.
• Belarus is a peripheral area for Trifolium, but it has germplasm with the most important biological characteristics such as longevity, winter survival, tolerance of excess moisture , and ecological plasticity.
• Belarusian specialists today use Trifolium pratense, repens, and hybridum. New perennial forages such as Medicago sativa, Medicago falcata, Galega orientalis, and Melilotus have great value for hay lands and pastures.

Weed control in pasturesMost natural pastures have been improved, but the major limiting factor is now weeds. Research shows that the density of small-stemmed weeds and coarser weeds on large areas often reaches 50,000-70,000 units per hectare and makes up to 30 percent and more of the total stand. Various weeds typical of the pastures of the country are Taraxacum, Leontodon, Rumex, Plantago and Ranunculus. They may form 100 percent of herbage cover in certain periods.

Agropyron is another typical weed which has a high regenerative ability. Increased application of nitrogen encouraged weeds in many grasslands and meadows. Carex and Juncus are dominant weeds on most natural pastures with an irregular water supply. Artemisia sometimes is very prevalent in the south of the Republic, in the Polesje (woodlands). The most recent research aims to find integrated measures of weed control. Application of herbicides with a certain fertilizer system has proved to be highly effective on weedy pastures. Pastures and hay lands with a weed burden of more than 30 percent can be ploughed and forage crops grown for a year or two.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food (MSHP) is the leading governmental institution which organizes and finances works on natural fodder resources. The Ministry has five departments, one of which is in charge of pasture resources. The governing body of this department inspects farming trends and supplies farms with financial support, as well as investing in the main scientific programmes.

Belarus Research Institute of Agricultural Reclamation and Grassland Science (BelNIIM&L), created in 1930, is a centre of grassland science in the Republic; Polesskaya Experimental Station, Pinsk Complex Department, Vitebsk Experimental Farm are subordinate to the institute. BelNIIM&L conducts a research programme on natural meadow-pasture lands within the limits of the republic complex project "Agrocomplex 2001". The programme is based on the following aspects:

• improvement in fertility and agricultural use of man-made soils which are formed on exhausted peat cutting areas;
• creation of highly-productive forage lands on flood plain peat cutting areas;
• formation and efficient use of long-term pastures on peat soils in Poless’e region;
• cultivation of water-logged lands for pasture and hay lands.

Belarus Research Institute of Arable Farming and Fodders (BelNIIZK) coordinates research on breeding and seed production of perennial grasses and is engaged in creation of parent material and in growing new varieties (of diploid and tetraploid forms). The work on breeding new perennial forage cultivars is been carried out with Trifolium pratense, T. hybridum, T. repens, Dactylis glomerata, Festuca pratense, F. arundinacea and Galega orientalis.

The Belarus Research Institute of Experimental Botany is occupied in botanical resources on natural forage lands.

Ministry of Agriculture and Food of Republic Belarus (MSHP), Kirova Str., 21, Minsk, Belarus, E-mail:korma@mshp.minsk.by

Mrs. Marija Parfenovitch, Senior Pasture Research officer: range management

Ministry of Statistics and Analysis (MinStat) Partizanskii Ave., 12, Minsk, Belarus

E-mail:minstat@mail.belpak.by

Mr. Zinovsky Wladimir, Director

Belarus Committee on Land Resources, Geodesy and Mapping (HosKomZem), Krasnozvezdnyi Lane 12, Minsk, Belarus

Fax: +213-47-25

Mr. Kuznetsov Georgy, Director

Belarus Research Institute of Agricultural Reclamation and Grassland Science (BelNIIM&L), Bogdanovicha Str., Minsk, Belarus

Fax: +232-64-96

Mr. Meerowsky Anatoly, Executive Director, sustainable natural resource management

Belarus Research Institute of Experimental Botany, Akademicheskaya Str. 27, Minsk

Fax: +284-18-53

Mr. Laman Nicolaj, Director: maintaining national herbarium

State Land Register of Republic Belarus (on January 1, 2000)

Statistical Yearbook of Republic Belarus 2000

Anon. 1997. Economic Tendencies in Belarus: Quarterly Review #1 1997, Minsk, European Expert Services, p.18-19.

Sanko P. 1983. National Meadows of Belarus, their Characteristics and Evaluation. - Minsk: Science and Techniques, - 247s.

Shklar Y. 1973. Agroclimatic Resources of Belarus. - Minsk: Urozhai, - 421 s.

The author of this paper is no longer in Belarus but can be contacted as follows:

Dr. Henrik Witkowski, Grodno, Belarus.

Fax (375152) 72-13-65

E-mail niwa@selhoz.belpak.grodno.by

The profile was prepared in September 2001 by Dr Witkowski who will update it from time to time.

[It was edited by Mr J. Suttie and S. G. Reynolds in October 2001 and livestock numbers and livestock production statistics were updated in November 2002 by S.G. Reynolds].