Village and Business: development cooperation

Technological inferiority, lack of work opportunities, lack of social and cultural infrastructure do not let the villagers lead a full life, which the most people have in the European countries in the 21st century. The “gap” between living standards and opportunities in the city and in the countryside is constantly increasing in Ukraine. As a result, entire settlements are vanished. At the same time, our country is known as the “breadbasket of Europe” and agriculture for the Ukrainians is one of the most important areas of the economy. The decay of the villages does not certainly help to develop this direction.
Both local government officials and business representatives, who work in the countryside and require motivated and skilled professionals to work effectively in the agricultural lands, often leased from the same locals, acknowledge the situation. When the development of the villages is not the primary task for the state, the business is the one factor that allows to achieve potential and to implement the new capabilities at the local level.
Such mutually beneficial cooperation successfully develops in Bilokurakyno, Novopskovskiy, Markov and Troitskiy districts among local communities and the national agro-industrial group Agricom Group, which combined agricultural enterprises “Progress”, “Partner”, “Orion”, “Zoria”, “Mi-Agro” and “Zakotnenska”. These enterprises cultivate more than 20 000 hectares of farmland with wheat, sunflower, barley, oat, rye, flax, rape, corn and buckwheat.
Agricom Group provides inhabitants from several local villages with workplaces; the Group also affords an opportunity for local farmers to work with up-to-date technology. After all, the company regularly updates the Vehicle Park of its enterprises using in the fields of Ukraine vehicles of such famous producers as Claas, Challenger, Tecnoma, John Deere, etc.,  for this reason, professionals obligatory get industry-specific training. In fact, all vehicles of Agricom Group are regularly “modernized,” as modern technology develops rapidly and let continually improve the equipment. For example, the Group set up GPS-tracking system for more than 100 units of its vehicles a short time ago. Latest software solutions are used not only in the production but also in processing, storage, quality control, which are provided in the laboratories and the elevator complex of Agricom Group, located in Bilokurakyno district.
“We have strong views on improvement of the effectiveness of our work and competitive capacity of our products. Innovation helps us to improve yields, quality of the final product and to reduce resource consumption. However, no new technology is able to achieve its potential without competent specialists. Such specialists can only be found in a prosperous community, which develops and is able to support its members offering them interesting opportunities. The prosperity of local communities is our priority, “- said Stanislav Steshenko, the head of Bilokurakyno cluster of Agricom Group.

The confirmation of these words is the social and economic cooperation of Agricom Group with village councils, wherein money is given to the needs of communities. Means are sent to support the improvements, to solve the problems with transport service for schoolchildren, to do unscheduled repairs in the territories of the village councils, etc.
For example, the comprehensive school in Kryzke in Markivsk district received two new notebook computers for its computer lab within the beneficent support of the company “Orion”, which is the part of the national agro-industrial group Agricom Group. It is a large gift for village schools, as a rule, they usually get used equipment if their facilities are renewed.
The Group supports the cultural development of the village: Day of agricultural worker, which is annually celebrated in our country on the third Sunday of November, was celebrated last year in Bilokurakyno, Novopskovskiy, Markov and Troitskiy districts in Luhansk region. With the assistance of Agricom Group, solemn meetings were held in honor of agricultural workers, wherein the best workers, specified by the enterprises, were presented certificates and were given cash bonus; the magnificent concerts took place in the regional culture centers.
On the 29th of December Bilokurakyno village joined the nationwide trend of talent shows: with the support of Agricom Group, the final open singing competition “The voice of Bilokutakyno district 2” was held there.  The two candidates contended for the first place. The main prize to the winner was given by the local cultural office, and the top management of Agricom Group gave cash bonus to the participant who took the second place.
The enterprises of the Group take an active part in traditional celebrations. On New Year’s Eve 2015 children in Bilokurakyno, Novopskovskiy, Markov and Troitskiy districts received 955 sweet gifts. Representatives of the Group delivered festive treats to 11 schools and 8 nursery schools., With the support of Agricom Group, locals as well as residents of nearby settlements celebrated Epiphany with the traditional blessing of the water, dip into the ice hole and folk festivals on the river Kozynka in Shparske village.
Such concern of business for the community creates relationships that are more effective and increases the loyalty of locals; it also gives an opportunity for enterprises to involve the experts at the local level and to provide work to the representatives of local communities. Therefore, business makes contribution to its prosperity making villages comfortable for life and development. A model of Agricom Group in Luhansk region proves once again that cooperation between agro enterprises and local communities is mutually beneficial for either party.

The problem of social and economic development of the Ukrainian village is becoming more and more serious year by year. Insufficient funding and the current political and economic situation in the country are the main reasons for the tight situation in the villages. However, it is necessary to look for the way out of this unpromising situation, and very often, the village finds it in cooperation with business.

“Zhittya Bilokurakinschiny” newspaper #51-52 27.06.2015