Україні не вистачає 3 млн фахівців аграрного сектору Ukraine lacks 3 million specialists in the agricultural sector

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 reported that the situation is most difficult with tractor drivers, combine harvesters, and agronomists. According to the expert, 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.

It will be recalled that Taras Vysotskyi, the acting Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, 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 request 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.