Food crisis: farmers warned 'waste and face jail'

By Russia correspondent Scott Bevan The President of Belarus has threatened to jail farmers who harvest inefficiently, saying such carelessness is criminal in the midst of a global food crisis. Agriculture is a mainstay of Belarus' economy, and President Alexander Lukashenko seems determined to keep it that way. While on a regional tour to inspect a rural revival program, Mr Lukashenko has offered his own encouragement, saying it is criminal to be careless in harvesting grain when there is a global food crisis. The Interfax agency reported him as saying that "special measures" may be necessary for proper harvesting. "No one will understand until we send a couple of people to jail," he said. Mr Lukashenko has been told Belarus is expected to collect about 8.4 million tonnes of grain this year, although that figure could... [read full story]