The concept of "agro-town" became widespread in the territory of the Republic of Belarus after the adoption of the "State Program for the Revival and Development of the Village for 2005-2010". This led to a complete reorganization of some villages, villages, attracting young professionals to the agricultural sector of the national economy.
Reasons for the emergence of agro-towns
Like many developing countries, the Republic of Belarus is facing an acceleration in the process of urbanization. The opportunity to earn more and make life easier led young people to leave the countryside. The level of receiving educational services, cultural leisure, sports opportunities was significantly higher among urban residents compared to rural residents.
This led to a decrease in the population in the villages, a lack of qualified personnel in the countryside, and a decrease in agricultural production. As a result, the infrastructure gradually ceased to exist: schools, kindergartens, post offices, shops were closed. This hastened the migrationvillagers.
Advantages of agricultural towns in Belarus
The main goal of improving and creating modern settlements is to improve the lives of rural residents and improve the work of the country's agro-industrial complex. Both directions are interconnected.
Working in modern rural towns
Creating jobs is a priority in the village modernization program in Belarus. Agricultural towns in Belarus were created on the basis of strong farms.
Promising agricultural enterprises updated equipment, transport. Workshops were built for processing livestock products directly at the places of cattle breeding, obtaining dairy products.
As a result, the need for staff has increased. Boys and girls are actively invited to work in the agro-towns of Belarus after graduating from higher educational institutions. Actively employ everyone who wants to work in the presence of vacancies. Young people are attracted not only by a modern equipped place, but also by the opportunity to get a personal home in an agro-town, the availability of places for cultural recreation or sports.
Infrastructure
When creating a new type of settlements, special attention was paid to improving the lives of the people living there. Differences between an agro-town in Belarus and an ordinary village:
- Large settlement. Modern rural settlements were given a new status and name if they are the centeragricultural organization or village council.
- Performed gasification. Natural gas has been installed in many agro-towns.
- Upgraded power grids, virtually uninterrupted power supply.
- Construction and re-equipment of central or local water supply and sewerage systems.
- High quality mobile communications, internet.
- Reconstructed highways.
- Cultural leisure venues created, equipping existing houses of culture with modern audio and video equipment, opening cinemas.
- Availability of places for sports: opening of swimming pools, ice rinks, gyms.
Special attention is paid to the development of medical care. Many village outpatient clinics and feldsher-midwifery stations have been re-equipped with the necessary equipment and staffed with medical personnel.
Housing
A great place to live and work - a modern Belarusian agro-town. There may even be problems with providing housing in a rapidly developing village.
Rural cottages sprouted all over the streets for the specialists and their families needed by the agricultural enterprise. But they were quickly given to qualified personnel. They received them in agro-towns free of charge for the time of work in the organization. Many specialists were able to privatize them. For this, loans were provided for 20 years. Their receipt depended on the solvency of the villager and the period of work in the organization.
Agricultural townsnorthern region
Vitebsk region - the northern part of the Belarusian Republic. There are many lakes in this area, among which the Braslav Lakes are a popular holiday destination. Cold climate, rocky soil do not contribute to the growth of agricultural production. But it also has updated villages.
Akhremovtsy is one of the largest agricultural towns in the Vitebsk region. During the Great Patriotic War the village was completely destroyed. But she was able to revive. In 2018, it had about 1,300 inhabitants.
A peat briquette plant operates in Akhremovtsy, an enterprise for the logistics of the agro-industrial complex, the Braslavskoye unitary enterprise, which produces whole-milk products and cheeses.
The village has a secondary school, a kindergarten, a music school, a library, a cultural center, a post office, a feldsher-obstetric station.
Grodno region
Programs for the modernization of villages in the western part of the Belarusian Republic are successfully developing. Popular agricultural towns of the Grodno region are located in every district of the region, but the largest are located near the regional center.
Obukhovo
The settlement of Obukhovo is located 13 km from the regional center Grodno. An agricultural production cooperative named after IP Senko operates on the territory of 20 villages. It is named after the former chairman of the farm, who led it for more than 50 years and made it successful.
The company employs about 650 people. They are engaged in growing apples of early, autumn,winter ripening period, production of cold-pressed rapeseed oil. A special place is occupied by the production of meat products, the range of which includes about 40 positions. High quality products made from natural ingredients are in great demand in Belarus.
On the territory of the enterprise, livestock and crop products, including horticulture, are grown and processed. The farm operates a feed mill.
Eight new apartments are put into operation every year, houses built in the 80s of the last century are being renovated. For residents of the agro-town, there are industrial shops, grocery stores, a cafe for 120 seats, a cultural center, a children's and youth sports school, an art school, a pharmacy, an outpatient clinic, a bank branch, a bathhouse, and a post office.
Spinners
Agrotown is located 12 km from Grodno. The population exceeds 3000 people. For a long time, the chairman of the collective farm in Vertelishki was the brother of the chairman of the enterprise in Obukhovo, F. P. Senko.
The peat enterprise "Vertelishki", a peat briquette plant and a narrow-gauge railway operate in the village. There is a secondary school, a kindergarten, a youth school, a cultural center, a department store and other shops.
Minsk region
There are many successful agro-towns in the central region. One of them - Snov, is located in the Nesvizh region. The population of the settlement in 2016 was more than 2600 inhabitants. The main workplace of many is agricultural production.cooperative "Agrokombinat Snov".
The company is engaged in the production of meat and dairy products. On the territory of the agro-town there is a pig-breeding complex for 36,000 heads, a poultry farm with more than 700,000 broilers, cow farms with more than 15,000 units, including 2,850 heads of a dairy herd.
Processing of products is carried out at the meat and dairy plant. The agricultural complex is developing a commodity distribution network by opening stores in large cities, automobile trade facilities deliver products throughout the Minsk region.
In the village there is a house of culture, a secondary school, a kindergarten, a service center and a bath and laundry plant, a cafe, a beer bar, a hotel, and the pool is being renovated.
Agricultural towns in the villages of the Minsk region are characterized by the presence of multi-storey residential buildings, developed infrastructure, congestion and lack of places in schools and kindergartens. Large modern settlements near Minsk - Kolodishchi, Lesnoy, Ostroshitsky town.
Feedback from residents
Own housing is a great help for young families. A modern house with all communications solves the housing problem of agricultural workers. But sometimes new settlers admit that there are shortcomings in the houses. Unsuccessful arrangement of rooms, poor quality of finishing materials, malfunctions of heating systems, water supply lead to complaints from the residents of the houses. Many of them are carrying out renovation work to eliminateshortcomings.
Sometimes the level of wages is not enough to get a loan and privatize housing. But most of the housing built in modern towns in Belarus pleases new settlers with quality and cost.
Agorodok is a modern place to live in the countryside. This type of settlements is characterized by a developed infrastructure. In each village there are educational institutions, outpatient clinics or feldsher-obstetric stations, cafes, canteens. Most farms provide housing - modern houses or apartments. At the same time, the villages have water supply, sewerage, natural gas. The main thing is that there are jobs in agro-towns.
The plans for the modernization of villages include the creation of a "village of the future". The differences between them and agro-towns are small. Particular attention is paid to sports employment of the population. For example, great importance is attached to the availability of bicycle paths, sports grounds for outdoor sports. If there is a river or lake in the "villages of the future", it is imperative to improve the territory with the possibility of walking.
