Context: On June 2 at the Belagro 2026 exhibition, Deputy Prime Minister Urii Shuleika announced that Belarus aims to harvest at least 11 million tons of grain in 2026. Last year, the harvest totaled 9 million tons. The exhibition, which took place from June 2 to June 6, attracted more than 200,000 visitors. Qu Dongyu, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, was among the guests. He praised the Belarusian agricultural sector, stating that, in his opinion, Belarus is capable of feeding 100 million people. Qu Dongyu had previously offered similar compliments to Russia, Tajikistan, and Vietnam.
The results of the international agricultural exhibition were summarized on the program "Main Broadcast" on the First News Channel* on June 7, 2026. The report contrasted the Belarusian and European agricultural sectors, stating that milk production is declining in Europe.
“The trend toward self-sufficiency is perhaps the most important one for Belagro and our agricultural sector as a whole. While the cow population — and thus milk production — is declining in Europe, Belarus is investing in new production facilities,” said the reporter.
The European cow population is indeed in decline. According to Eurostat, it has decreased by about 10% over the past ten years. However, this does not mean that milk production is declining as well. In fact, it is growing in the EU, driven by higher per-cow milk yields. In recent years, average milk production per cow in the European Union has increased by about 20%, exceeding 8,000 kg per year. Although the number of cows has decreased, each cow’s productivity has increased significantly.
The same trend can be observed in Belarus. Over the past decade, the number of cows has dropped by around 7%, while milk production has climbed. However, Belarus lags behind the European Union. On average, a cow in Belarus produces about 6,500 kilograms of milk per year.
On the same day, Maryia Trojniсh, the host of the program Aktsenty on RTR-Belarus TV, continued the discussion on food. She claimed that some European countries are already on the brink of famine.
“When you see such an abundance of food in stores every day, it’s hard to believe that hunger remains a global problem. Within the UN, the FAO is responsible for addressing this issue. The organization created an interactive world map that shows which countries are facing food shortages. Those countries are highlighted in orange. Just a couple of years ago, Europe was a white spot, free from hunger. Now, Ukraine and even Greece have been placed in the category of undernourished countries,” said Troinich.
However, the FAO map does not depict hunger zones in the strict sense. Rather, it shows the prevalence of undernourishment, defined as the estimated proportion of the population whose usual calorie intake is below the minimum required level.
Even before, Europe wasn’t entirely white on this map. Undernourishment rates were above average in five European countries a decade ago. The situation has improved in most of them since then. Only Slovakia and Albania remain on the list. Ukraine was added to the list after 2015, when Russia occupied the Donbas.
Greece, which the Belarus-RTR presenter mentioned, is not on this list. Furthermore, Europe remains one of the regions with the lowest levels of food insecurity worldwide.
* The First News Channel is another name for News.by, which is owned by Belteleradiocompany.