Oleg Bakhmatyuk, whose businesses operated out of 22 regions of Ukraine, believes that decentralisation has become an incentive for the development of rural areas.
Decentralisation reform is one of the ways to keep people in the countryside.
This is according to Oleg Bakhmatyuk, owner of the Ukrlandfarming Group and businessman, during a conference entitled Labour Migration: A Challenge for Ukraine
During the discussion, representatives of the government and big business exchanged views on ways to overcome the challenge of labour migration from Ukraine.
Oleg Bakhmatyuk, whose companies operate across 22 regions of Ukraine believes that decentralisation has provided an incentive for rural development : ‘We operate out of 600 communities. I believe that decentralisation is one of the most successful reforms implemented by the government. It has enabled rural areas to develop not only economically but also in terms of sustainability . Nothing encourages development like opportunity. Communities acquired the ability to plan and manage their own resources and operate as an independent business unit. It is clear that everything depends on people, but overall, this reform is working very well.‘
Without government support, it is becoming increasingly difficult for rural areas to keep people from migrating for work, and Ukrainian agricultural producers are already experiencing a serious shortage of staff. "First of all, there are fewer people, and we have to understand this. People want access to quality services. And there are fewer opportunities in the countryside, if we compare the quality of education, the quality of healthcare, and the quality of infrastructure. Naturally, people are drawn to those places where they can get it. The state must also understand this: is it ready to maintain the infrastructure and invest such huge amounts of money and invest this money to keep people in the countryside, as the European Union has done. This is one of the reasons why there are such huge subsidies for the agricultural sector - to discourage the rural population from migrating, to keep the infrastructure in place, to create conditions that enable people to receive the same services as city residents."
The Ukrlandfarming Group owned by Oleg Bakhmatyuk is one of the country's top agricultural producers, one of the largest taxpayers and one of the best employers, providing jobs for thousands of residents in 600 Ukrainian communities. Ukrlandfarming has been consistently recognised by various ratings as an innovative company that exports its products to 40 countries.
