National association Belsemena of the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry has started shipping humanitarian supplies to Moldova following a request of Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev for assistance with alleviating drought consequences. According to Deputy Director General of Belsemena Piotr Romanovsky, following the President’s instruction Belarus will ship 150 tonnes of seed potato worth $55,000 and 100 tonnes of wheat ($30,500) to Moldova. Coupled with the cost of clearance, loading and delivery the cost of the humanitarian supplies is estimated at $100,000. November 23 saw 100 tonnes of seed potato supplied by Belsemena’s enterprises and loaded onto a train in Mogilev. The train will get another 50 tonnes in Lida on November 26. The seed potato is transported in special containers to avoid frost impact. Special batches of seed wheat have been selected and supplied by all the 40 enterprises of Belsemena. The cargoes will be shipped free of charge to the Agency for Material Resources, State Purchases and Humanitarian Aid of the Republic of Moldova. The procedure will be coordinated by the Belarusian Emergencies Ministry. Emergencies Ministry officers will escort the cargo to the destination. The humanitarian aid was allocated at the expense of the fund for financing expenses relating to natural hazards, emergencies and catastrophes. This year Moldova faced a catastrophic situation when the drought damaged around 80% of the land.