As February rolls in, a bustling workshop is transforming winter downtime into a mechanical revival! Farmers-turned-mechanics are gearing up for the upcoming season, ensuring every piece ...
It’s February, and the repair workshops of the LLP “PKF Agrosouz” are bustling with activity every day. This work has not ceased throughout the winter: participants of the autumn harvest, having temporarily set aside their cabs from combines, tractors, and heavy machinery, have easily transitioned into universal mechanics capable of repairing any agricultural equipment.
Valeriy Volovich, the team leader of the field crop brigade, shared that his team has already completely overhauled the engine of one “Kirovets.” On another tractor of the same brand, they replaced the equipment and also “tended” to and prepared other large and small machines for readiness.
On the day of my visit, the mechanics were busy repairing the headers of the combines. Additionally, I had the chance to see a mobile field trailer on wheels in the machine and tractor workshop. It turned out that it was also being repaired. As explained by the MTT, the mobile rest point needed a roof update as well as interior finishing. In spring, the trailer will head to the fields alongside the agricultural machinery. By the way, a mobile kitchen will also be in the field at that time.
– Our team is united, – Valeriy Volovich recounts. – We’ve known each other since childhood.
There are also family dynasties here.
– We value our specialists, – continued Alexander Sarvanidi, the executive director of LLP “PKF Agrosouz,” while discussing the team. – We consider people to be the main resource upon which the success of the entire enterprise depends. We provide them with work not just seasonally but year-round, and we pay salaries on time. On average, it amounts to about 300,000 tenge. During the sowing and harvesting seasons, mechanics and drivers can earn up to one million tenge or more. Those engaged in treating fields with fungicides can earn up to six million… I believe that the labor of combine operators and tractor drivers in our enterprise is compensated fairly. Currently, we employ 85 people, and during the harvest days, we hire additional workers, bringing the total to approximately 130 employees.
As Alexander Sarvanidi explained, the partnership was established on the basis of a former state farm. Its complete reorganization during the era of large-scale privatization occurred in 1998. Three years later, the PKF “Agrosouz” was founded, which helped preserve the main agricultural production and support three farm branches – the villages of Svyatogorku, Collective, and Kreshchenovka, where the company’s employees still reside today. According to the director, they have year-round employment, and salaries are paid, which is why people stay, and the small villages where they live have not faded away.
The main profile of LLP “PKF Agrosouz” is crop production, managing extensive arable lands. The spring sowing alone covers an area of over 20,000 hectares. Annually, 15–15.5 thousand hectares are sown with wheat, 1,600 hectares with barley, and 3,000 hectares with flax. They also grow ryegrass, which is used as feed for horses and to support the personal subsidiary farms of the workers.
Despite the fact that the traditional profile of activity has not undergone significant changes over the decades, the farm is open to innovations and consistently seeks ways to enhance production efficiency. They well understand the demand for crop diversification, which is why they expand flax sowing year after year.
According to the enterprise director, flax is in demand in the market and maintains a good price, making it worthwhile to grow. Moreover, excellent oil is produced from flax. However, the farm took a long time to master the technology for caring for this crop, particularly in finding the optimal treatment that would allow for clean, weed-free sowings, but those difficulties are now behind them.
– We are currently in full preparation for the upcoming spring field work, – says the leader. – We are finishing up the repairs on the machinery. Among our top priorities are the procurement of herbicides and mineral fertilizers. Overall, we will enter the fields well-prepared, which is key to achieving a good harvest.
According to the agricultural department of the Osakarovka district in the Karaganda region, this current field season will see an increase in the sowing area for grain and leguminous crops by 8.4 thousand hectares, totaling 407.5 thousand hectares. The area for flax will expand by 5 thousand hectares, bringing the total to 18.6 thousand hectares. Sunflower sowing will increase by 4.4 thousand hectares (6.3 thousand hectares). Potato planting will rise by 150 hectares (650 hectares).
This year, the issues of preparation for the upcoming field season were discussed at the Government meeting earlier than usual, indicating the relevance and significance of this matter in light of the tasks that need to be addressed in the country's agricultural sector. According to information from Minister of Agriculture Aydarbek Saparov, the agricultural department is currently conducting systematic preparatory work together with the akimats of the regions.
As for the planned development indicators, they are as follows. The diversification program will cover about one million hectares. Specifically, the area of high-profit crops will be increased by 750 thousand hectares, including oilseeds by 365 thousand hectares, forage crops by 184 thousand hectares, barley by 114 thousand hectares, buckwheat by 41.5 thousand hectares, and potatoes by 15 thousand hectares.
…Snow lies on the fields, yet all the thoughts of the agricultural workers are focused on the upcoming 2025 field season. Before heading into the fields, they must resolve numerous various, large and small issues, each of which is important and cannot be postponed.