A farmer from the Donetsk region sells cattle abroad and creates new workplaces

In the Donetsk region, there is a unique farm where farmers breed cattle and export their animals abroad, writes “Agro-Center”.

Alexander Sklyarov has been engaged in farming for 17 years. He started with growing different crops. Then, the area under his crops occupied 30 hectares. The first crops were successful and as of today, the farmer has 4,700 hectares of cultivated land.

Alexander is proud of the fact that, despite difficult times and war, he is able to work and create new workplaces for others. However, the farmer notes that not everyone wants to work:

“I don’t have enough skilled workers. I need an agronomist, an animal technician, a tractor driver. There are none on my farm. Depending on a person’s qualifications, whether they need a place to live, and other factors, I am ready to consider different options and offer a good salary just so that specialists come. People come from the center of employment, leave quickly to get financial help there. They don’t want to work, and one has to work hard in the village.”

In addition to growing various crops: wheat, sunflower, corn and legumes, Alexander is engaged in breeding livestock – in particular, cows. Mostly, animals are sold abroad:

“Our cows go to the port, and from there abroad – to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey. We grow good meat breeds. We sell about 300-400 cows a year. This year, we planned to sell more than we did. We didn’t manage to prepare enough hay because of high temperatures and, therefore, couldn’t increase the volume,”

says the farmer.

Despite being a hard worker, the farmer has enough time for his hobby. Alexander loves to spend his time taking care of horses:

“I adore horses. Children come to me, I let them ride and take pictures with the animals. We need instructors and more time to open a school or a horse club – I just don’t have that amount of free time. I am glad that local schoolchildren can come to see these noble animals, because, nowadays, they are none around.”

Alexander notes that, despite the potential, farming in Ukraine has a lot of obstacles. In particular, the greatest problem is that there is no land market. He would like to buy land at a market price, and not depend on landowners. In addition, the farmer said that many Ukrainian farmers are not ready to pay taxes.

“How can we support schools and kindergartens, if most farmers here haven’t paid a single penny to the budget. And then they come to me from school, where their children go, and ask for help – buy paint and other products. I am for legal employment and businesses. Otherwise, how can we build our village, region, country? “

said Alexander.

By his example, the man shows that agriculture in Ukraine has a future and may be the driving force behind change.