Assessment Of Staffing Support For Agriculture In Kurgan Region

Abstract

The relevance of the issue of staffing support for the agricultural sector is objective both for the individual region and for the Russian Federation as a whole. This is caused by the following: 1. reduction of the number of labor resources of a village in most agricultural regions of the Russian Federation, which has a negative impact on the renewal and replenishment of the “aging” staff potential of the agricultural sector, as well as the need to involve about 40 million hectares of “abandoned” land and development of ecological agrarian farming; 2. growing tendency to decrease the quality characteristics of the staff potential of the agricultural sector, weak orientation of staff even at the top level to introduce innovations; 3. lack of concept and strategy of development, effective functioning of the system of staffing support of the industry in the optimal mode. The development of the human resource potential of agriculture represents a particular methodological and practical importance, because it is the “key to the resource balance of the industry economy, alignment of personal and material factors, without which effective production in the agricultural sector is currently impossible”. The main goal of staffing support for the agrarian sector in modern market conditions is to accelerate the growth rate of the efficiency of business entities in a multi-layered economy and increase the level of competitiveness of local food products on the market and solve the issue of food supply for both the individual region and the Russian Federation as a whole.

Keywords: Agriculture, human resources, supportability, wages

Introduction

Providing economic entities with the necessary labor resources and their rational use is more important than the development of the agro-industrial complex and an increase in agricultural production. Staffing support is a key problem in the organization and management of the agro-industrial complex in Kurgan Region and the Russian Federation as a whole (Roznina et al., 2021). The processes taking place today are characterized by the modernization of the economy, the introduction of fundamentally new technological methods of production, the search for opportunities for intensive use of the labor potential of society. In this context, one of the key components of production efficiency of both a separate agricultural and industrial organization and entire sectors of the agro-industrial complex is staffing support.

Problem Statement

The problem of agriculture staffing was and remains one of the most acute problems of the agrarian economy not only in Kurgan Region, but also in Russia. In modern conditions, agrarian farms are in critical condition regarding the presence of the proper level of staff potential (Khudyakova et al., 2020; Yunusbaeva, 2010). The reasons for this inlcude low wages; lagging wages of agricultural workers from the regional average; poor quality of life of the rural population (Ilyukhin & Ilyukhina, 2011; Salakhutdinova, 2009). The solution to the problem of staffing support for agriculture is seen in the improvement of financial incentives for agrarian workers, the introduction of a system of training, retraining and advanced training.

Research Questions

Human resources are considered from two perspectives. The first perspective: staffing support is the process lasting in time (Voronin et al., 2017). Staffing support is a set of means and measures ensuring conditions that contribute to the normal functioning of the labor market, the implementation of planned plans, programs, projects, maintaining a stable quantitative and qualitative balance of labor resources, preventing failures, violations of regulatory legal acts, regulations, and contracts in the personnel sphere. The second perspective: staffing support is a resource object of production and economic activity (Galieva et al., 2020). From this perspective, staffing support is one of the main resources that ensure the functioning of production, characterized by the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of regular personnel (Gushchenskaya et al., 2020). In general terms, staffing support is an intersectoral process for the formation and effective functioning of labor resources, which is aimed at a qualitative and quantitative balance between the labor market and its entities.

Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of assessing the staffing of agricultural organizations in Kurgan Region is to determine the dynamics and level of labor potential of rural territories (number of rural population employed in agriculture, agricultural workers) to identify problems and propose directions for their neutralization.

Research Methods

The study utilized the following research methods: method of economic comparison, which is based on comparing the indicators of the current year with previous periods; method of statistics to collect quantitative information on the object of study and identify trends in the staffing of agriculture in Kurgan Region; ratio method to calculate relative indicators of staffing support.

Findings

Kurgan Region is the most important industrial and agrarian region of the Ural Federal District. The agro-industrial complex is the second most important sector of the economy of the Trans-Urals. The share of Kurgan Region in the total production of agricultural products of the Russian Federation is 0.9%, and the share in the Ural Federal District is 13.3% (Roznina et al., 2020). In 2020, 229 agricultural organizations, 1,186 peasant farms functioned in the agro-industrial complex of Kurgan Region (Gushchenskaya et al., 2020). On average in 2016-2020 about 38.05% live the rural areas of Kurgan Region.

The dynamics of the rural population, employed and employees of Kurgan Region organizations are presented in Table 1.

The total population of Kurgan Region over 2016-2020 decreased by 35.5 thousand people and in 2020amounted to 816.6 thousand people. This trend is somewhat associated with a decline in the rural population by 17.9 thousand people. The rate of reduction in the rural population (5.48% over 2016-2020) exceeds the rate of reduction in the total population of Kurgan Region (4.15%). The percentage of the rural population in the total population in Kurgan Region over 2016-2020 decreased by 0.52% and in 2020reached the level of 37.7%.

The total number of employees in Kurgan Region decreased during the analyzed period by 39.7 thousand people, including in agriculture – by 6.1 thousand people. The largest number of employees was registered in 2016 – 348.3 thousand people, including in agriculture – 36.0 thousand people. The percentage of employees in agriculture of the total number of employees in 2020 was 9.69%, which is 0.68% below the level of 2016.

Table 2 shows a portrait of employed and unemployed population in Kurgan Region in 2020 according to a sample survey of the labor force.

The average age of the employed population in 2020 was 41 years, and the unemployed – 36 years. Men account for 51.4% of those employed. Among the unemployed, men account for 53.0% of the total population and women – 47%.

The average annual number of employees of organizations as a whole in Kurgan Region increased by 78,054 people, and in agriculture decreased by 3,017 people and in 2020 reached the level of 8,176. The percentage of the number of employees of agricultural organizations in the total number of employees of organizations has a downward trend – 4.62% over 2016-2020.

In modern economic conditions, the main reason for the negative dynamics of agricultural labor resources is the low level of wages (Butyugina et al., 2020). Wages form the main source of income of the population (Tingaeva, 2010).

The dynamics of the level of wages in agriculture of Kurgan Region is shown in Table 3.

2016-2020 are characterized by the positive dynamics of wages of both employees of all organizations by 9,846.9 rubles, as well as employees of agricultural organizations of Kurgan Region by 6,114.1 rubles. The analyzed period is marked by a tendency for the wages of agricultural workers to lag behind the average wages of employees of all organizations: in 2016 – by 25.70% and in 2020 – by 29.33%, which has a negative impact on the staffing of agriculture in the region.

The most important factor affecting the level of labor utilization and the efficiency of agricultural production is the provision of agriculture with labor resources (Zvereva & Lovchikova, 2014). Insufficient supply of labor resources affects the underperformance of the planned volume of work, which will lead to a decrease in the volume of agricultural production and the financial result of rural economic entities (Pitukhin et al., 2017). The labor resources of agricultural farms of Kurgan Region are presented in Table 4.

The provision of agricultural farms in Kurgan Region with labor resources is declining, as evidenced by an increase in the load of farmland and crops per average annual worker by 146.96 ha/person and 21.30 ha/person respectively and the reduction in the number of agricultural workers per 100 hectares of farmland and per 100 hectares of crops – by 0.07 and 0.29 respectively.

Conclusion

Thus, the study of the staffing support of agriculture in Kurgan Region indicates the presence of failures in its certain elements, which has an impact on reducing the effectiveness of the agricultural complex of Kurgan Region. The problem of staffing of agribusiness is complex and requires systemic measures, such as the development of social infrastructure in rural areas; creation of unified educational complexes, including vocational, secondary, higher, postgraduate education; integration of educational institutions and agro-industrial enterprises; formation of a system for monitoring labor resources and personnel selection with the involvement of modern information technologies, etc.

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