Mobilization of farmers poses threat to ensuring state's food security - Rada's agrarian committee

The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy calls on the government to review the booking of farm workers, because the number of mobilized farmers poses a threat to ensuring the state's food security.

The head of the committee, Oleksandr Haidu (the Servant of the People faction), announced this on Facebook, the Ukrainian News agency reports.

In particular, Haidu reported that at the meeting of the agrarian committee, the issue of booking workers liable for military service in the agricultural sector, in particular, farms that have less than 500 hectares of land under cultivation, was separately discussed.

"Against the backdrop of war and mobilization, a serious issue has arisen regarding the shortage of labor resources in the countryside, which poses a threat to the fulfillment of tasks to ensure the state's food security, stable foreign exchange earnings from agricultural exports, and the proper conduct of the 2025 spring sowing campaign," he noted.

Haidu reported that the committee unanimously supported the appeal to the government on the need to review and amend the criteria for booking  farm workers in order to ensure the stability of agricultural production and ensure the implementation of important tasks, such as supplying food for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

"The specified initiative proposes to identify farms that have less than 500 hectares of land under cultivation as important for the national economy in a special period, reducing the threshold for the number of hectares, employees and livestock, taking into account the need for seasonal work, especially to preserve the livestock complex," he noted.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, a new procedure for booking from mobilization to the army has been in effect since December 1, 2024. All critically important enterprises must confirm their status for booking their workers from mobilization to the army by February 28, 2025.

According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, in Ukraine the number of citizens booked from mobilization is from 900,000 to 950,000.

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