Evaluation of level of agricultural development based on integration index

Abstract

Abstract Agriculture is a strategically important economic sector and a type of economic activity for every country. The level of its development determines food security and country independence, population well-being and health, demographic and economic development. Steady growth and development of agriculture can be characterized only by a system of indicators and indices, allowing to compare different regions. The study describes the method to calculate an integration index of agricultural development by an example of the Russian Federation regions’ ranking. The authors offer a system of indicators and prove the need to use different components and their sub-indices of a lower level. There were made calculations and rating to distinguish between regions with different level of agricultural development. The authors claim that farm producers should rely both on climatic conditions and on capacity and advantages of technical, technological and scientific modernization of the industry. There are ways to improve the integration index method to calculate development of agriculture. The calculation of the proposed integration index makes provisions for a generalized assessment of the potential of different industries in the regions. It can identify the most promising directions for development of economic sectors at the state level. This method can be applied to different industries in the territorial context of other countries. It can be used for cross-country comparisons, as well as for the analysis of indicators in the long-term dynamics. The integration index calculation will contribute to better information and analytical support for the industry functioning, as well as procedural and methodological aspects of the analysis.