Belarus attempts to revive flagging farm sector amid trade war

摘要

Agriculture still remains important to the Belarus economy, but fertilisers retain a significant hold, as recent events involving neighbouring Russia have amply demonstrated. The Belarus farm sector comprised 8.4% of Gross Domestic Product in 2012, slightly up from 8.3% in 2011, but sharply down from 9.2% in 2010, and 22.7% in 1990, after the break-up of the Soviet Union. But industry and services largely predominate. With a total population of 9.5 million, of which 4.6m are employed, some 10.2% of those working Belarusian adults were employed in agriculture in 2012, compared with 25.5% in industry, according to the National Statistical Committee. This compares with almost 20% employed in farming in the early 1990s.