AGRICULTURAL CONSULTING AS A TOOL TO ENSURE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SUSTAINABLE RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The article analyzes the current state of implementation of sustainable rural development in Ukraine. Ensuring sustainable rural development today is a priority for all of humanity, which is due to the desire of countries to ensure the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is noted that rural development is an important task aimed at ensuring food security, increasing the competitiveness of agriculture, stimulating economic growth and social development of rural areas in the system of European integration priorities. It is proved that the peculiarities of the functioning of the agro-industrial sector, the processes of digitalization and the consequences of full-scale military operations necessitate the need for highly qualified and multidisciplinary specialists. It is substantiated that the need of small agricultural enterprises for high-quality staffing will only increase in the future, due to the need to revitalize the de-occupied territories of Ukraine and the further rapid development of digital technologies. It is noted that the lion's share of agricultural enterprises in Ukraine is small. These agricultural enterprises are focused on the domestic market, and they ensure the country's food security and sustainable rural development. However, these agricultural enterprises face significant problems with logistics and human resources, high production costs, lack of markets, etc. In addition, most of them are geographically remote from the centers of civilization. All this, as well as the need to eliminate the negative consequences of full-scale military operations in rural areas, further revitalization of the de-occupied territories, and the introduction of digital technologies, make it expedient for small agricultural enterprises to use agro-consulting as a tool for ensuring the implementation of sustainable rural development. It is noted that agricultural consulting in Ukraine is mainly represented by agricultural advisory services. Prospect for further research is the problem of using consulting to optimize the development of rural tourism in Ukraine.