Text: Natalia Korotchenko (Astrakhan)
In the Astrakhan fields, harvesting of early potatoes is in full swing, tomatoes, bell peppers, cabbage will go from day to day, and there is no one to harvest ... again. Local farmers did not cope with the new algorithm for the organized import of labor migrants, and in fact, in recent years, they had both sowing and harvesting in their hands.
“On January 25, I applied for the Work in Russia website, and I attached a ready-made list of workers, everyone who came to me these ten years,” Elena Denisova, a potato grower from the Kharabalinsky district, told RG. - In May, they called me back from Uzbekistan, they said that travel was only by plane, and together with registration services, the road for each migrant would cost me as much as $ 500. And this is just up to Moscow. But before, for 8 thousand rubles, they came directly to us in the Astrakhan region by train.
The entrepreneur failed to find out why workers cannot be brought by rail, as well as to advance in the issues of registration of migrants in general. According to the new rules for attracting labor migrants, the employer concludes an agreement with representatives of foreign states, providing a huge package of guarantee documents - from photographs of the workplace and housing to the obligation to provide workers with three meals a day and transportation to their homeland immediately after the end of work. But migrants themselves do not want to return so quickly.
- They spent the whole last year at home due to quarantine. And they come to an agreement for a year or two directly to us. When there is no agricultural work, they are ready for any other, - said the farmer Grigory Kambur.
Correspondence with foreign departments with Astrakhan agricultural producers dragged on until June 12. Meanwhile, the potatoes ripened, and the farmers, at their own peril and risk, simply began to send money directly to migrants for the Tashkent-Moscow flight on their word of honor that they would come to Astrakhan. After buying tickets on their own, foreigners have the right to choose any kind of labor in Russia, having entered the migration register. At least glue the wallpaper.
“Myself and all my neighbors have already reduced the planting by 20 percent, and now we are worried that we will not be able to harvest the whole crop,” says Elena Denisova.
She managed to bring only ten out of 55 necessary workers. Firstly, prices bite, a plane ticket costs 42 thousand rubles, and secondly, airliners are packed, because now is the season.
“For the last two years I have been trying to do without migrants, it has become almost impossible to get them,” said Evgeny Anufriev, a farmer from the Volga region. - I only attract locals, but I was lucky in this regard, because I work in the area closest to the city.
As a consequence of the situation, agricultural producers predict an increase in prices for products in the fall. According to Astrakhanstat, in May, potatoes and cabbage rose in price by 15 percent, onion - by 16,6 percent. The regional Ministry of Agriculture reported that it is possible to send migrants by train only by agreement with a foreign state, having fulfilled all the points of the new rules with which the farmers had difficulties. As a result, out of 10,5 thousand migrants necessary for the region, only three thousand have arrived so far.
- There is an order of the Russian government N 635-r, which clearly states that citizens of the CIS, including Uzbekistan, can enter on their own, but only by plane, ”the department said. - Therefore, they use air transport, although it is expensive. It has become possible to register workers only since the end of May, and now the season is underway, and farmers, of course, have no time for a huge package of documents. Nevertheless, if at the beginning of the year there were no opportunities to import migrants at all, now they have begun to appear.
Comments
Olga Lebedinskaya, Associate Professor, Department of Statistics, Russian University of Economics named after G.V. Plekhanov:
- For seasonal work in 2021, the country as a whole needs about 38,2 thousand foreign migrants. The greatest need is in the Volgograd and Astrakhan regions, where vegetables are traditionally produced using manual labor: there, additional 22,3 thousand foreign workers are required for seasonal work (this is 58,4 percent of the total demand).
To invite a migrant, a farmer must meet numerous criteria, often redundant: there are restrictions on the number of employees and the annual turnover.
According to the estimates of the farmers themselves, the absence of a decision on this issue can lead to a reduction in production by up to 70 percent.
The solution here can be quite simple - to reduce the requirements for employers according to the "Algorithm for attracting foreign labor force", for example, the required level of income of companies or the number of employees.
Yulia Ogloblina, Chairman of the Commission of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex and Rural Areas:
- The problem is really acute, but it seems to me that now it would be a mistake to urgently remove the restrictions on inviting migrants. All the same, by doing this we will support a foreign economy, not our own: migrant workers earn here, but spend most of their earnings in their countries. I think it is realistic to cover the need for seasonal workers at the expense of unemployed Russians. Moreover, unemployment has grown over the past year, and the state is still forced to spend funds to overcome it. We need an information campaign and state support, especially for small agricultural enterprises. They need help to organize the process of attracting people, if necessary - training, moving, accommodation, meals.