The Government proposed to reserve specialists in horticulture and vegetable growing

Director of the Department of Agrarian Development of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, Ihor Vishtak, during a meeting with regional military administrations, emphasized that the administrations should review the criteria for booking employees in such a way that workers of even small but important enterprises for ensuring food security have the opportunity to book their employees. And, in his opinion, the fields of horticulture, vegetable growing and potato growing need special attention.

According to the government official, specialized associations emphasize in their appeals that not all administrations took into account as much as possible the possibility of booking workers in the fields of horticulture, vegetable growing, and potato growing. But these industries are currently of critical importance for the economy of Ukraine. Previously, about 70% of vegetable production was grown in the south of Ukraine. Today, some of this business has been destroyed and some businesses have moved, which has affected prices in the domestic market. Business entities now supply the domestic market with their products, and the government, according to the representative of the Government, should help ensure that their employees receive reservations.

It should be noted that earlier the president of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation, Leonid Kozachenko, in an exclusive comment for AgroPolit.com, emphasized that due to mobilization in the agricultural sector, there is a shortage of specialists directly involved in harvesting. In total, there is currently a shortage of approximately 3 million workers. In particular, Leonid Kozachenko said that the situation is most difficult with tractor drivers, combine harvesters, and agronomists. According to the specialist, earlier this segment also had the most vacancies, but now the indicator has reached 160 vacancies per one specialist. For comparison, before the start of the full-scale war, this figure was 14-16 vacancies per person. The deficit increased more than tenfold. Leonid Kozachenko estimated that the shortage of workers in the agricultural sector after the beginning of the war reached 3 million people and hiring women cannot correct the situation. He noted that traditionally in the agricultural sector, the largest number of women worked in such areas as accounting, economics, trade, and veterinary medicine. Previously, women in agronomy worked mainly in garden centers. They did not exist on traditional farms and large agricultural enterprises. Currently, 2.8 million people work in agriculture. The deficit is 3 million workers. Of this number, 70% are farmers who work on combines, tractors, and trucks.

We will remind that recently acting Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, Taras Vysotsky, emphasized that workers of the agricultural industry will be able to receive a year's armor from mobilization to ensure harvesting. According to the government official, several decisions on mobilization have been made so far. First, existing bookings are automatically extended for three months without the need to submit a single package of documents. Further reservation will be granted for 12 months - previously it was 6. In addition, the general reservation rate is up to 50%, but in certain occupations it is possible to submit a petition with justification to increase this number. This applies, for example, to tractor drivers, agronomists, and veterinarians. Currently, due to mobilization in certain areas of the domestic agricultural industry, the number of employees has decreased to approximately 20%, which has significantly increased the burden on the rest. The most needed in both the agricultural sector and the Armed Forces are engineering professions: tractor drivers, machinists, elevator equipment engineers. In general, the shortage of personnel in Ukraine has already reached a historic level, and the number of open vacancies posted on personnel portals has reached a record high. As analysts note, there are more job offers on the market than before the full-scale war, and there are significantly fewer job seekers.