In May 2022, EastFruit wrote about the interest of UK farmers in attracting seasonal workers from Nepal and Central Asian countries, including Uzbekistan.
As a result of fruitful cooperation between the Agency for External Labor Migration of Uzbekistan and the British recruiting company Pro-Force, another group of 24 Uzbek labor migrants arrived for seasonal work on agricultural farms in the UK. It is planned to attract 1 500 workers from Uzbekistan this year, and about 2 000 labor migrants worked at seasonal jobs last year, Dunyo news agency reported.
The main goal of the project is attracting labor from Uzbekistan and the efficient use of labor migration opportunities in the country. The program is being implemented within the framework of a quota of more than 40 000 people allocated by the UK government for foreign seasonal labor migrants.
We remind you that the British agricultural sector is facing a shortage of workers due to the war in Ukraine. Combined with the effects of COVID-19 and the aftermath of Brexit, this has made it difficult to attract seasonal workers to the UK agricultural industry.
To fill the resulting shortage of seasonal workers, British recruitment agencies are seeking to find candidates from Nepal, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. It is expected that the citizens of these states will provide the bulk of labor migrants for agriculture. According to the forecasts of recruiting companies, each country will provide several thousand workers.
In addition, the authorities have extended visas for citizens of Ukraine who are in Britain – they move from one employer to another.
Furthermore, the industry fears a lack of experience among new employees, and as a result, a decrease in productivity. However, The Telegraph’s interlocutor, farmer Joe Fisher, was more optimistic in this regard: ” Traditionally, Romanians and Bulgarians worked for us, but there are four guys from Uzbekistan, and I am very pleased with them,” he said.
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