We investigate corruption, uncover fake news and analyze the news agenda. The BIC is a member of the global network of investigative journalists.
Our journalists are the recipients of the national award “Free Word” from the Association of Journalists of Belarus in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. At "Free Word" 2021 BIC’s team also received first place for Analytics
BIC is a member of the OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project)
We are also members of GIJN (Global Investigative Journalism Network)
"The situation changed fundamentally." How SB. Belarus Segodnya credited Lukashenka with grain yield growth
The newly elected president did indeed impact grain harvests, but not in the way the author claimed.
After Aliaksandr Lukashenka's election as president in 1994, grain production in Belarus increased, wrote Vasil Hedrojc, a correspondent for SB. Belarus Segodnya, in his article. The Weekly Top Fake team found that the opposite occurred — yields actually declined at that time.
Belarus Segodnya published the article about Aleksandr Lukashenko's positive impact on grain production volumes in Belarus on October 23, 2025.
"It's universally accepted that a country producing one ton of grain per person has achieved a high level of food security. That's the level our country has reached in recent years. But it wasn't always this way. In the mid-1990s, grain production was nearly half of what it is today. After Aleksandr Lukashenko was elected president of Belarus in 1994, the situation changed fundamentally," the article's opening paragraph states.
From the late 1980s until Lukashenka came to power, Belarus harvested 6-7 million tons of grain annually (excluding rapeseed), according to Belstat. For comparison: last year's harvest totaled 8 million tons, and in 2025 — 9 million tons. These figures make Vasil Hedrojc's claim appear credible. However, after Lukashenka's election in 1994, yields actually declined: for example, in 1999 the harvest totaled only 3.5 million tons — half of what it was in 1993. Only by the mid-2000s did grain harvests begin to recover: in 2004, the country reached 7 million tons for the first time.
Over the past 10 years, gross harvests have ranged between 7-8.5 million tons of grain. That's roughly one million tons more than before Lukashenka came to power, and 1.5 to 2 times higher than at the start of his rule.
