REPORTAGE: How in the agro-town of Lukovo the villagers spend autumn in their labors

"There are eight jobs in autumn" - this proverb, perhaps, like no other, reflects the whole essence of rural life in the autumn. Often, the villagers have no time to admire "nature's magnificent withering", because at this time there is a lot of work both in the collective farm and in their own courtyard. Here are the inhabitants of the agricultural town of Lukovo, in the Maloritsky district, these days they admire the beauty of their beautiful lake only from afar, going about their business - to a farm, a mechanical yard, a construction site or in a field.

“After the grain harvest, the main work begins: harvesting corn for silage and grain, plowing and sowing winter crops, preparing the soil for spring sowing, applying organic matter. Fuel is one and a half to two times more than during harvesting. In addition, the harvest lasts three weeks , and the cycle of autumn field work - from August 15 to November 1, two and a half months, "- lists the DIRECTOR of the local Krasny Partisan OJSC Sergey Stepanyuk.

"We rarely go to the lake," driver Piotr Khivuk admits with a smile. In the summer he worked as a hauler of grain, he took third place in the regional competition. I made about 400 flights from the field to the weight room and back. He transported 1080 tons on his ZIL - he fell short of 10 tons to his own record. These days he works on the transportation of corn grain. “Now it’s already easier. It’s much harder to go to the harvest, because you work all daylight hours, plus it’s hot,” says the driver.

The harvesting of corn in the OJSC is nearing completion - 16 hectares remain to be cut for grain. A quarter of the area is occupied by experimental plots. This year, 10 hybrids of corn were sown on the farm - from different producers, different selections, 40 acres each. Among the varieties of Serbian, Swiss and other companies, there is one domestic. “We look at the yield, moisture yield, to determine which of them will give the best result under the same conditions. We will choose two or three of the best, with the highest yield, and sow next year,” explains Igor Burshtyn, chief agronomist.

He monitors grain moisture content daily. Today the device showed 33%. Farmers note that moisture from the cobs this year for some reason leaves slowly, although there has been no rain in the region for almost three weeks, frosts have passed. But the greater the moisture content of the grain during harvesting, the greater the cost of fuel and energy for its refinement.

"The arithmetic is simple: it's one thing to harvest corn at a moisture content of 33% and quite another - at 25%. The grain has to be dried, because it is stored at a moisture content of 14-15%. But in order to meet our production capacities, we had to start harvesting from 1 October, with a humidity of 40-41%. But these are all the costs that fall into the cost of production. Well, the state helps: the region and the republic have allocated subsidies for the purchase of fuels and lubricants. This, of course, is a significant support," the director of the OJSC notes.

Sergei Stepanyuk has been heading the Red Partisan for almost a quarter of a century. He is one of the three most experienced leaders in the Malorita region. The JSC itself is a small but strong enterprise, confidently keeps afloat and develops, providing a tenth of the gross agricultural output of the region. With several reorganizations in the economy, they decided not to abandon their historical name, thereby demonstrating an inextricable link with previous generations.

“When I came here as a manager, 400 people worked on the farm, and we produced 2.5 thousand tons of MILK. Today we get 8 thousand tons, 21 tons per day, with a two and a half times smaller number of employees. labor productivity over the past 25 years. Technical support is now completely different. Our leadership, the government, acted very wisely in its time, starting the technical re-equipment of agriculture. Powerful, energy-saturated tractors, combines, forage harvesting complexes began. Modernization of livestock buildings began - the construction of new farms, milking parlors. If all this had not been done, it would be extremely difficult to produce agricultural products today," Sergey Stepanyuk notes.

The Malorita region itself, with its poor sandy lands, occupies the 14th place in the republic in terms of milk yield: now, on average, 6591 kg are received from a forage cow. And if we take into account ballohectars, soil fertility, the result will be in the top three. This year, the livestock sector of the region is also confidently entering the wintering season.

“We have prepared 32.5 centners of feed units per conventional HEAD of livestock. But haylage is still being harvested from grasses of the third or fourth cut. The return on them is small, but this must be done for the normal growth of plants next year. Plus, some amount of feed In general, the district fulfilled the plan for fodder by 106%, for silage - by 118% of the task.Given that we will harvest 5 thousand tons more corn, the forage will be approximately at the level of last year - 33.5 centners of feed units ", - says Vadim Golovchik, First Deputy Chairman - Head of the Department for Agriculture and Food of the Malorita District Executive Committee.

Today, about 400 hectares of corn for grain remain in the region. The work is scheduled to be completed by November 5-7. Lagging farms and those with large areas will be helped by the leaders. After that, autumn tillage, removal of organic matter and the application of mineral fertilizers for perennial grasses will remain from field work.

"It is necessary to raise 8,000 hectares of plowing in the region, about 2,000 hectares have already been plowed. Now we are getting more and more actively involved in this. Especially since the weather allows, so we will try our best. The main thing is that the soil is not frozen, so that the layer turns over normally. Considering that winter is coming according to the calendar, the whole of November it will be possible to plow. More plowed in the fall - there will be less work in the spring, "- argues the head of the agricultural production.

Tractor driver Anton Olesiyuk has been working at Krasny Partizan OJSC for the fourth year - he returned to his native village after serving in the army. Now he replaces his father at the helm of a powerful machine - he prepares the ground for spring sowing. During forage harvesting, he was busy harvesting and transporting green mass. "In the field, I'm not bored alone, I like any work," says the farmer.

Anthony is getting married soon. His chosen one was a young specialist who arrived in Lukovo by distribution. The farm has already allocated housing for the future family - a one-story residential building on a new street. "A young family is being created: he is a machine operator, she is an agronomist. What could be better," Sergei Stepanyuk asks rhetorically.

He is convinced that in addition to production indicators, the work of a leader in the countryside should also be assessed by the state of the social sphere. JSC "Red Partizan" is building not only warehouses and farms, but also housing and other social facilities. Within walking distance from the central square of the agro-town - a favorite vacation spot for local youth and mothers with children - all the infrastructure: kindergarten, FAP, school, post office, shop, House of Culture, village council.

“In order for a person to remain living in the village, it is necessary to create appropriate conditions. This is the construction of housing, roads, gas supply, water supply. Unfortunately, due to objective demographic processes, the population is decreasing, but not so significantly. This year, the first grade of the Lukovskaya secondary school 12 children went. This suggests that we have young people, they remain, and we are trying to interest them in every possible way, "summed up the head of the agricultural enterprise.

Svetlana VECHORKO,

photo by Vadim YAKUBENKO,

BELTA.