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Azaronak mixed up tons and dollars and overstated the profitability of Belarusian agriculture
That is how the state TV host arrived at the conclusion that “Lukashenko is a startup pioneer.”
Ryhor Azaronak claimed in his livestream on CTV that thanks to Alexander Lukashenko, the profitability of Belarusian agriculture is above 100%. We found that he had confused all the indicators and drawn the wrong conclusions.
Context:In 2025, Belarus is expected to sell $9 billion worth of food products to other countries. Five years from now, those sales are supposed to reach $12 billion a year. Alexander Lukashenko announced this at a ceremony presenting state awards to leaders of the agro-industrial complex. The main market is the Eurasian Economic Union, which accounts for more than 90% of Belarus’ food exports.
Ryhor Azaronak cited Belarus’ impressive achievements in agriculture on December 17, 2025, during his “Azaryonak. Napryamuyu” (“Azaronak. Directly”) livestream. “This year we have $11 billion in exports of agricultural products from our farming enterprises. Profitability is over 100%. This... This, right here! You want market-based methods?! You want market-based methods?! That’s Lukashenko the startup pioneer for you!”
Azaronak likely misunderstood the indicators and confused the grain and legume harvest with export revenue: in 2025 the country threshed 11 million tons and expects to earn about $9 billion from exports.
The net profit margin in this sector, Belstat data show, has not exceeded 9% in recent years, and in 2024 it was just 0.5% without state support. The year 2025 has been more bountiful: over the first nine months profitability rose to 11%, and to 2.4% without state aid. Both figures are a far cry from 100%.
