There is a shortage of potatoes in Belarus, and the harvest has nothing to do with it

Lukashenko believes that excessive enthusiasm for potatoes threatens to gain excess weight, while the proposed diet will have a favourable effect on the figure: "If we eat potatoes, as we write in "tiktoks," we won't be thin. Such statements appeared against the background of potato deficit on the country's shelves.

Alexander Lukashenko's decisions to tightly control the price of products have led to a massive outflow of the crop to Russia and shortages at home, claim economists and representatives of the opposition.

According to Politico, the potato crisis worsened in the spring of 2025. On the shelves of shops - small, rotten or no potatoes at all. The reason is in the economic policy, which Lukashenko has been pursuing since October 2022. Then he introduced price restrictions on basic products to curb inflation. However, instead of stability, the country faced falling profitability and demotivation of agricultural producers.

"If you remember the history of the USSR, it becomes clear: if people are not motivated, you will not make them work well," explains Lev Lvovsky, academic director of the BEROC Economic Centre.

According to his data, in 2024 Belarus will harvest only 3.1 million tonnes of potatoes - almost a million less than a year earlier. Farmers massively sold the crop to Russia, where prices were twice as high. In 2024, Belarus exported about 200 thousand tonnes of potatoes to Russia, becoming its largest supplier.

The situation was aggravated by export bans. In December 2024, Minsk restricted the export of potatoes abroad without a special licence. In response, according to BEROC, many farmers started to register healthy tubers as "rotten" in order to circumvent the restrictions and still send the produce to Russia.

Meanwhile, low-quality potatoes appeared on the shelves in Belarus, and sometimes disappeared altogether.

"This is a typical example of how Lukashenko's regime itself is creating a shortage of goods that used to be in abundance," said Ales Alakhnovich, economic adviser to Sviatlana Tikhanovskaya.

Official Minsk responds to criticism in the usual way.

"All negative trends have been suppressed. Price regulation has not caused any imbalances. There are enough goods, prices are reasonable," said First Deputy Minister of Antimonopoly Regulation Ivan Vehnovets in March.

Nevertheless, the authorities were forced to change the rules. In April, the price ceiling for potatoes was raised to stimulate domestic sales. And in May, the government temporarily cancelled the ban on imports of products from EU countries, previously recognised as "unfriendly", including potatoes.

According to Lvovsky, the situation has begun to stabilise, but the government's methods of fighting the deficit raise questions. In June, Lukashenko said the shortage was caused by "sabotage" and hinted at arrests.

"There was enough potatoes. But supplies were restricted to demonstrate the harm of the president's interference in pricing. And when the State Control Committee came and put handcuffs on the table, the potatoes were found," he said at the meeting.

In May, the authorities opened a hotline where shoppers can complain about shops not selling potatoes or setting "inflated" prices.

"The goal is to intimidate retailers so much that they start pulling potatoes out of thin air," Lvovsky ironically said.