Diversification of Activity of Agricultural Enterprises as an Instrument for Providing their Economic Sustainability

The main research tasks are: to determine the peculiarities of diversification of agricultural activities of agrarian enterprises and their impact on sustainable development; to specify criteria and indicators characterizing diversification of production activity; to systematize the factors of diversification of agricultural activity of agricultural enterprises and to determine its influence on the formation of indicators of efficiency; to substantiate the strategies of diversification of agricultural activity of agricultural enterprises and to determine its influence on efficiency. Paper's objective (s). The purpose of the article is to solve the following tasks: to determine the peculiarities of diversification of agricultural activities of agrarian enterprises and their impact on sustainable development; to specify criteria and indicators characterizing diversification of production activity; to systematize the factors of diversification of agricultural activity of agricultural enterprises and to determine its influence on the formation of indicators of efficiency; to substantiate the strategies of diversification of agricultural activity of agricultural enterprises and to determine its influence on efficiency. Data / Methods. When writing the article, data from official statistics, data from consulting institutes and own researches, scientific works of domestic and foreign authors were used. In carrying out the research, we used the following methods: economic and statistical in determining the dynamics, structure and performance of the development of production activities; comparative in assessing the effectiveness of activities and comparing the levels of diversification of production of agrarian products; calculation-constructive in substantiating the directions of diversification of production for agricultural enterprises. In the article the author calculated the https://doi.org/10.15414/isd2018.s8.19 INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC DAYS 2018 1870 Herfindel-Hirschman coefficient, the entropy index, the indicators of concentration and diversification of production in agricultural enterprises in Ukraine. Results In the agricultural sector, there is a process of vertical diversification of capital through the creation of vertically-integrated structures that combine the production, processing and marketing of agricultural products to end users. Calculated values of the entropy and diversification coefficients indicate an increase in trends in the concentration of production both in certain agricultural enterprises (egg and poultry, pigs, dairy cattle), and within the product groups (growing of cereals and industrial crops). The concentration of agrarian enterprises in the production of a particular group of agricultural products increases the risk of economic activity. Thus, in 2016 compared to 2005 there is an increase in the number of agricultural enterprises in 482 farms that specialize in the production of one type of agricultural product; 2 species at 1574; In 3 types 867 farms, which is evidence of a reduction in multi-sectoral enterprises. Currently, highly specialized enterprises are engaged in the production of mainly crop production. There is a process of horizontal diversification in the production of grain crops due to the growth of the concentration of corn production on grain and reducing the economic attractiveness of barley cultivation. Constraining factors of the development of unrelated diversification of the enterprises of the corporate sector through the provision of services are: imperfect tax legislation; high level of market saturation; high level of agronomy of machine-tractor fleet of agricultural enterprises, low competitiveness in the price segment, provision of services in specialized enterprises and individuals. Conclusion The positive influence of diversification of agricultural activities of agrarian enterprises on increasing their efficiency with increasing share of livestock products in the structure of commodity products has been proved. The concentration of productive resources on the production of mono products in the absence of a system of strategic and tactical planning of production leads to an increase in production risk for agricultural enterprises. The study of the processes of diversification of agricultural enterprises should be carried out taking into account regional peculiarities of the development of the industry, the level of use of commodity producers' production potential and risks of production activity.