Heroes of Belarus. Vitaly Kremko. Man of labour is main wealth

The Minsk Times project is dedicated to people awarded the highest Hero of Belarus title

Thirty years ago — on April 13th, 1995 — a state award, the highest title conferred for exceptional service to the state and society, was established: Hero of Belarus. Since then, President Aleksandr Lukashenko has signed nine decrees awarding the title, listing 14 names.  The modern history of sovereign Belarus boasts many significant milestones, including in the development of the agro-industrial complex (AIC), where people and their labour heroism play the most important role. Many successful rural workers have been awarded high governmental honours. The President of Belarus has awarded the high Hero of Belarus title to four of them. We have already recounted about Aleksandr Dubko, Mikhail Karchmit, and Vasily Revyako. Today’s edition of our project Heroes of Belarus is dedicated to Vitaly Kremko — the former chairman of the Oktyabr-Grodno SPK (agricultural production co-operative), a legend of our time, who received the high Hero of Belarus title fourth in the country’s history.

AWARDS

• By Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus No. 362 dated June 30th, 2001, the Chairman of the Oktyabr agricultural collective enterprise in Grodno Region, Vitaly Ilyich Kremko, was awarded the Hero of Belarus title for selfless labour and exceptional service in the development of agricultural production. 
• Honoured Worker of Agriculture of the Republic of Belarus (1996) 
• Two Orders of the Red Banner of Labour (1971, 1981)
• Order of Lenin (1987)
• Medal for Valiant Labour (1970)  

kremko.by

Vitaly Kremko (1941-2009) was born in the village of Berezhno in Korelichi District, Grodno Region. At the age of 17, he began his working life as a worker at the Korelichi lime plant. Nine years later, he graduated from Novogrudok Agricultural College, and then Grodno Agricultural Institute.
Having headed the rather mediocre collective farm Oktyabr in 1984, Vitaly Kremko decided to make it no worse than the renowned Progress, where he had previously worked as head of a production site and deputy chairman. And he achieved his goal. Over time, the collective farm not only equalled Progress in some production indicators, but even surpassed it. 
Kremko began by selecting specialists, creating a functional team capable of handling the most complex tasks. What could not be denied was his immense work ethic and dedication to achieving his goals. He was a true master of the land, not giving himself or others any leeway. At the same time, he was fair. He always listened to people’s opinions. Kremko often said, “Prove me wrong...” He greatly valued his staff, especially nurturing middle management, teaching them. Under his influence, they grew professionally, gaining the necessary experience. He also paid attention to ordinary livestock workers, field workers, and machine operators, striving to pay them fairly for their labour.
His first order of business at the collective farm was to build new production facilities and reconstruct the old ones. To reduce construction costs, he tried to carry out many works using in-house methods. To do this, he created a large construction team. They built their own asphalt plant and paved over 100 kilometres of roads. A considerable amount of housing was also built. Kremko began to purchase various agricultural machinery and vehicles, and for the first time, provided specialists with vehicles. The farm expanded. They started growing vegetables, because they were in demand on the market, and an orchard was planted. He understood that it was more economically advantageous not only to produce raw materials, but also to process them on site and then sell the finished product with high added value. Therefore, he created workshops for processing fruit and vegetable products, milk and meat — by 1996, they had their own meat processing plant and dairy, and even a confectionery factory, and their own branded retail trade began to operate. All of this was profitable, and the proceeds were invested back into core production: fields and farms.
Incidentally, Vitaly Kremko and his wife Valentina have three sons. They are all agronomists by trade, all working in agriculture. He had a cherished dream that his sons would continue his work. He saw his middle son, Sergei, as his successor as chairman of the farm, and therefore taught him all the intricacies of the business more than the others. And the son lived up to his father’s trust.

SPK (agricultural production co-operative) named after Kremko in Grodno Region           Aleksey Bibikov

Today’s head of the agricultural enterprise — the Hero of Belarus’ son, Sergei Kremko – says, “My father wanted to prove that the farm he headed could, with the right effort, be raised to a decent level. This was one of the main goals in his life. Despite the fact that he was a principled and strict man, he was also benevolent. My father always strictly monitored the financial condition of the farm. When instructing me, he would say: ‘Watch the economy, don’t waste money’. I am pleased today that out of the large number of our structural divisions, there is not a single unprofitable one.”
According to Sergei Kremko, his father always strived for diversification; he saw the future in it. Of course, it is easier when you have one farm and three crops, for example — you grow grain, sell milk, and that’s it. Yet, in this case there is no room for manoeuvre if something goes wrong. This multi-vector approach helped the farm to survive in the 1990s. The chairman’s main principle, that each division should operate profitably, is still followed on the farm to this day. The orchard that Vitaly Kremko established is now the best in the country; it is here that all the most advanced technologies have been implemented.
Notably, the V. I. Kremko fruit orchard at the enterprise of the same name is a genuine marvel! And a man-made one. It stretches across hundreds of hectares, with espaliers, drip irrigation, expertly selected rootstocks and over 40 carefully chosen varieties, yielding nearly 50 tonnes of apples per hectare. It all began with 30 hectares, which Vitaly Kremko established back in 1988, and the country’s first fruit storage facility, which today has proven more timely than ever. It turns out that he was ahead of his time, foreseeing a great future for orchards.
On June 30th, 2001, two years after the President’s first visit to the farm, Vitaly Kremko was awarded the Hero of Belarus title, one of the first in the country to receive such a high honour.
The chairman and his close-knit team demonstrated in practice, with concrete tonnes of grain and milk, the high efficiency of a multi-vector, large-scale farm focused on producing a finished product. In August 2004, when the Belarusian leader visited the Oktyabr-Grodno SPK again, he was shown a wheat field with a yield of over 10 tonnes per hectare, and domestically produced machinery working in the fields. In other words, the instruction to develop domestic agricultural engineering, given during the previous visit, was being implemented in full.
The President toured farms and a pig complex, deeply delving into the issues of sugar beet production and processing, and was genuinely impressed by such achievements.

Vitaly Kremko dedicated his entire working life to his native Belarusian land. Exceptional managerial talent, profound knowledge and ability to work, love for the native land and sincere respect for people helped him to have a distinguished career.

Everyone who has visited the Oktyabr-Grodno agricultural production co-operative is amazed by the smooth organisation of all production processes, the professional skills of specialists, management, and ordinary workers in the fields and on the farms.
Vitaly Kremko’s work continues. The Oktyabr collective farm, once famous throughout the country under his chairmanship, is still renowned today for its successes, strong economy and the skillful leadership of a progressively-minded manager — Kremko Jr.

MEMORY

Monuments to Vitaly Kremko have been erected in the agrotown of Kvasovka and in Grodno, and streets in these same settlements are named after him.

Based on materials of sb.by, belta.by and Heroes of Belarus by Nikolai Machekin