Given the high interest in growing raspberries in Ukraine due to high prices for this berry, investors from other areas of agriculture and even from other business sectors often come to this sector.

However, one of the aspects of the berry business, which will be relevant not only for those who want to grow raspberries, but also other berries: blueberries, honeysuckle, garden strawberries, currants, etc., we would like to consider in more detail. This is a labor force factor that, for some reason, is underestimated by many.

“For many years, Ukrainians have been traveling for seasonal work to harvest raspberries and other berries in Poland, Great Britain and other countries of Central and Western Europe. Therefore, the impression may be created that there is a surplus of labor in Ukraine. However, this is not so - the labor force, especially in some regions, is already the main constraining factor in the development of the berry business, and in the coming years it will become a real challenge for the berry growers of Ukraine, ”says Andriy Yarmak, economist at the Investment Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Poland has faced this problem for a long time. However, this country has a reasonable policy to attract foreign seasonal workers and simplify their employment. This year, for the first time, Serbia also faced this, which began to work on attracting workers to harvest raspberries, even from India and Mongolia! In the meantime, mainly seasonal berry pickers from Albania work here.

“Industry associations in Ukraine urgently need to prepare regulatory acts to simplify the employment of seasonal workers. Moreover, many countries of the world already have such experience and there is no need to invent anything. The second most important point is that right now we need to think about the legal attraction of foreign labor to harvest berries, for example, from the same countries of Central Asia, and to coordinate with the government the possibility of their legal employment. Again, there is the experience of neighboring Poland, which can be taken as a basis. Otherwise, Ukraine will plant thousands of hectares of new raspberry and blueberry plantations, and there will be no one to pick this berry. And here it is no longer a question of the cost of harvesting - in many regions it is already difficult to physically find people willing to work in the harvesting of raspberries, and this situation is getting worse every year,” said Andriy Yarmak.

EastFruit