New agriculture deputy ministers appointed in Lithuania

The Lithuanian Ministry of Agriculture has announced the appointment of Kęstas Spūdys, Ligita Valalytė, and Genovaitė Beniulienė as deputy ministers under the new Agriculture Minister Kęstutis Mažeika, as reported by BNS.

Ligita Valalytė previously served as head of the Intervention Planning and Implementation Division at the Prison Service and is a member of the Kaunas City Municipal Council. She has held roles as Deputy Minister of Environment and advisor to Mažeika during his tenure as Environment Minister. She has also worked at the Central Project Management Agency and led the Employment Service for four years.

Genovaitė Beniulienė has been with the National Paying Agency since 2004, most recently as director of the Rural Development, Fisheries Programs, and Support Department for the past five years.

Kęstas Spūdys has worked as an advisor to Mažeika in the Seimas, is a member of the Marijampolė Municipal Council, and has led the accounting firm “Suvalkijos žemė.” He has also served as chairman of agricultural companies “Suvalkijos ŽŪB,” “Gulbinas,” and “Tautkaičių ŽŪB.”

Beniulienė and Spūdys are members of the Democratic Union “For Lithuania,” while Valalytė ran in the 2020 Seimas elections with the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union.

Rolandas Taraškevičius, a non-partisan, will continue as deputy minister from the previous team. Earlier, Mažeika had offered deputy minister roles to former ministers Andrius Palionis and Ignas Hofmanas. Palionis declined, while Mažeika expressed hope that Hofmanas would serve as a public advisor.

Mažeika, delegated by the Democratic Union “For Lithuania,” replaced Palionis after a coalition reshuffle.