Farmers call for changes in booking due to shortage of specialists

The agricultural sector of Ukraine is already facing a critical shortage of personnel, and the current reservation rules do not fully take into account the specifics of the work of agricultural enterprises.

This was stated on the air of the Suspilne TV channel by Lesya Pankratova, a consultant of the Agrarian Council  on accounting and taxation.

According to her, the agricultural sector has seasonal specifics of labor remuneration, which is why the requirement for the average salary level for booking employees does not always correspond to the real working conditions of enterprises.

“In the agricultural sector, there are salaries that meet the established criteria, especially during the spring field work period, when they can exceed 35 thousand hryvnias. But due to seasonality in the winter period, the level of payment is significantly reduced, and this specifics is currently not taken into account in the booking procedure. This requires greater attention to the mechanism for calculating the average salary,” Pankratova emphasized.

The shortage of highly specialized workers in agriculture is increasing. Agricultural enterprises are most in need of tractor drivers, combine harvesters, agronomists and engineers.

“If in 2021 there were 14-16 vacancies per specialist in the agricultural sector, today this figure is already 52-70 vacancies. Hundreds of employers can apply for one resume of a combine harvester, because there is a catastrophic shortage of these specialists. It is no longer a question of choosing between a competent and less competent employee, but of whether the work will be done at all. The influx of young personnel into the agricultural sector remains insufficient, while the most sought-after specialists are gradually leaving due to age. Therefore, for the agricultural sector, the issue of reservation is already a matter of survival,” she emphasized.

Agricultural enterprises are already forced to adapt production processes and involve new categories of workers in performing complex work.

“We have already redistributed and increased the production load per employee, where possible, we have involved young people and pensioners in work. Women are also maximally involved in heavy work, there are cases when they transfer to tractors and undergo training. But the training of such workers requires significant time, practice and knowledge of technological processes. That is why the loss of even a small number of key specialists can have a disproportionately large impact on the ability of the enterprise to harvest the already sown crop. We are very much counting on a balanced and consistent change in the booking process by the authorities,” Pankratova noted.

The VAR emphasized that further aggravation of the personnel crisis could negatively affect not only production volumes, but also the country’s food security.

Earlier, USM reported that the Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business (UCAB) called on UZ to refuse to increase freight rates.