{"id":185180,"date":"2026-04-27T17:13:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T14:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/185180\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T17:13:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T14:13:45","slug":"lukasenka-pushes-for-putting-chernobyl-affected-land-back-into-production","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/185180\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0141uka\u0161enka pushes for putting Chernobyl-affected land back into production"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

April 27, Pozirk.<\/em><\/strong> Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, during a tour of the southern Naro\u016dla district, which was contaminated as a result of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, renewed his push to bring more affected land back into production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He encouraged the district chief to expand the area under crops, according to his press office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe must reclaim this land whatever it costs. We must return to the land we had in Soviet times. And we can do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He argued that some of the affected land should never have been taken out of production. \u201cI remember that at the time some benefited politically from taking [land out of production],\u201d he noted, adding that it is now quite difficult to bring that land back into use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe should assess each district, the land and the number of hectares, and build [dairy and meat] complexes. The situation around those complexes will always be stable. They [the complexes] will cultivate the land properly because they will need fodder,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 25,000 square kilometers of the country\u2019s territory remains contaminated, down from 47,000 square kilometers, or 23 percent of the country, in 1986, according to a national report published by the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Ministry for Emergency Management on the 40th anniversary of the catastrophe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka urged officials to step up efforts to decontaminate affected areas and return the land to agricultural production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat have we been doing during these 30 years if 900,000 [people] still live in contaminated territory?\u201d he asked officials at a government conference in Minsk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He noted that no one should live in contaminated areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The No. 4 reactor exploded at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the early hours of April 26, 1986.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Radioactive contamination led to the complete evacuation of 479 settlements and affected 56 districts, as well as 3,600 settlements with a population of about 2.5 million, including 1.5 million children. Belarus has managed to reclaim over 1 million hectares of the total contaminated area of 1.866 million hectares and restore 1,657 (45 percent) of the 3,251 affected settlements to normal conditions, according to the Minsk-based Management Academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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