For the third year in a row, since the beginning of the full-scale war, Ukrainian farmers have been working in the fields. However, they are currently waiting for a decision on mobilization and the possibility of booking employees.

Andrii Dykun, Chairman of the Ukrainian Agri Council and President of the Association of Milk Producers, who recently visited Dnipropetrovs'k region, said in comments to FOCUS publishing that the shortage of qualified personnel in the industry is not for the first time, and not only with the start of the sowing season.

"Thanks to the early spring and favorable weather conditions, people went out to the fields and started sowing in late February, because we have no choice. I recently visited Dnipropetrovs'k region and met with farmers who work 5-8 km from the front line in the fields. They said, "Yes, it's scary. It's flying, it's blowing up, but we have to live for something, we have to pay rent... And from the moral point of view, the Ukrainian Armed Forces sees what they are protecting...", said Andrii Dykun.

The land and the sowing season are not waiting, we need to work, but the situation of uncertainty is very stressful.

"Right now, the postponement of military service is coming to an end, so we are a little tense, because we understand that most agricultural enterprises are running out of the postponement of military service, some help us to make a postponement but a lot of chairmen are ready to drive the tractor themselves because there is no way out. I have examples where school graduates are hired, who have graduated from the institution and are eligible to take the driver's license and drive, and they teach them. Some people teach women and girls. We can't stop, because the sowing season is underway. This is the third year of the war and our third sowing season, so we understand that we need to be prepared for it. Now we are waiting for the decision on mobilization to be made so that we can understand who we will be able to make a postponement, because today you count on a person and for two years you could make a postponement for him, and tomorrow there will be no such an option - he will be taken to the service, and that will be a very big problem. So we would like these processes to speed up a bit," said Andrii Dykun.