Ukrainian farmers, including in the Odessa region, are facing a serious problem – a shortage of labor, which threatens sowing and harvesting.
Mobilization has exacerbated the situation, and now it is increasingly difficult for enterprises in the agricultural sector to find qualified workers. The problem has already reached a critical level. This was stated by Yevgeny Domaratsky, deputy director of the Odessa Breeding and Genetics Institute of the National Center for Agricultural Sciences, Novosti.LIVE reports.
He says that even before the war, there were few willing workers on the land, but now the situation has become catastrophic. The number of specialists in various branches of agribusiness has decreased so much that there is a real threat of crop loss due to the lack of people. And this is already negatively affecting the work of farms, because it is impossible to effectively conduct a sowing campaign and care for the crop.
“The main problem now is an insufficient number of specialists. This especially applies to technical workers: tractor drivers, machinists, drivers. We understand that many specialists are needed on the front lines, but the agricultural sector also critically depends on their work,” said Yevheniy Domaratsky.
According to him, the current situation directly affects agriculture and the future harvest.
“The worsening personnel situation negatively affects production. This issue must be resolved, because the country’s food security remains strategically important,” emphasized Domaratsky.
The specialist is confident that the problem can be partially solved by reserving critical workers for the agricultural sector, but this requires prompt decisions from the authorities.
