State policy in the agricultural sector of Ukraine in the context of demographic changes

Abstract

Introduction. The agricultural sector has a direct impact on providing Ukraine and the world with grain, oil crops, and food. It is also a source of filling the state budget of Ukraine with currency funds. Taking into account the existing geopolitical circumstances (military aggression of Russia against Ukraine) – it plays an important role in ensuring national and global food security. The state of agricultural development, which has been formed over the past decades, is directly related to the policy pursued by the state in the agrarian sector of the economy. Purpose. The purpose of the article is to generalize the theoretical foundations and practical approaches to solving the problem of employment in the countryside, which existed before and new ones that began to arise as a result of structural reforms of the economy of Ukraine and directly in its agrarian sector. Method (methodology). The following scientific methods of knowledge are used in the article: the method of system analysis, the statistical, abstract-logical method when summarizing the changes that occurred in the number of employed rural population during the structural reforms of the economy in general and the agrarian sector in particular; induction and deduction when justifying the further policy of state regulation with the aim support of the agrarian sector of the economy for the future. Results. The changes that occurred during the transformations of the agrarian sector of the economy are summarized, in particular in the number and structure of the population employed in agriculture, their wages; crisis demographic trends are noted. The priority areas of implementation of state support for the agricultural sector have been determined. Priority measures to ensure the employment of the rural population are proposed and substantiated. It was determined that there is an urgent need to modernize the state regulatory policy in the agrarian sector of the Ukrainian economy. It should include the following components: development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the agricultural sector; development and support of agricultural cooperation; promotion of diversification of employment of the rural population; development and implementation of modernization programs and creation of new jobs; increasing the income level of the rural population; creation of favorable living conditions and reproduction of the labor potential of the rural population; development of local infrastructure.