Kazakhstan: Plan to boost agricultural output overlooks farm workers
The agro-sector is hemorrhaging laborers.
Kazakhstan has big plans to double agricultural output within five years. But in mapping expansion plans, the government appears to have overlooked a key element in the agro-industrial complex – farm workers.
Kazakhstan is already a major global supplier of wheat and barley. But in January, the Kazakh government unveiled a blueprint covering 2024-2028 to diversify crop-growing and make it more efficient. The plan calls for a reduction in the share of “water-intensive crops and [an] increase [in] the production of highly profitable plants, for example, oilseeds.”
The plan also calls for technological upgrades, including investment in state-of-the-art water management systems and environmentally friendly fertilizing techniques, along with machinery modernization.
The cost of implementing the government plan is estimated at 33 billion euros, two-thirds of which would come in the form of low-interest loans. Investment will be geared to stimulate the production of processed meat, dairy and plant-based products for export.
The plan doesn’t have much to say about farmers themselves. And it doesn’t directly address some concerning realities for Kazakhstan’s agricultural sector.
In recent years, the agricultural sector has been bleeding farm workers. The sector’s share of overall GDP also is declining: in 2023 it accounted for 4.3 percent of GDP, down from 5.2 percent the previous year.
While poor infrastructure and outdated machinery have played roles in declining performance, productivity has also been hurt by low wages paid to farm laborers and uneven labor management practices. Lacking financial incentives, lots of farm workers are abandoning the sector, moving to urban areas in search of better-paying employment.
About 15 years ago, roughly one-third of all Kazakh workers were employed in the agricultural sector; today that percentage is 12.5. The trend has two worrisome socioeconomic implications: urban infrastructure in Kazakhstan is being stretched by the steady influx of rural residents; and frustration among underemployed rural youth is on the rise, fueling the potential for protest.
Farm workers complain that the labor management system in the agricultural sector is out of whack. Many say they are often compelled to work without formal contracts, leaving them vulnerable to abuses, including unpaid wages and lack of compensation in cases of accidents that lead to disability.
“In farming there is no formal contract, only verbal agreement. That’s why this happens: they hire you and don’t pay you,” said a 38-year-old farm worker in the Mangystau Region, who requested anonymity out of concern of retaliation.
A current trend in the agro-sector is for unskilled workers to engage employers on a day-laborer basis, a practice that limits the worker’s exposure to abuses, especially wage disputes, according to research conducted under the auspices of the Germany-based Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, which is affiliated with that country’s Die Linke Party.
Redressing complaints in the absence of contracts is often an exercise in futility, according to farm workers. Government inspectors don’t have the time or resources to handle many cases. “The same labor inspector must come to an enterprise and interview about 10 people to collect evidence,” said an agricultural worker in the Almaty region who also requested anonymity. “No one will do this; the load is too big.”
Labor organization efforts lag in the Kazakh countryside for a variety of reasons. The vast distances between settlements on the Kazakh steppe create a geographic barrier; another obstacle is inadequate Internet access in many rural communities, contributing to low levels of digital literacy and awareness of labor rights.
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