Import Substitution in the Agro-Industrial Complex in the Interests of Provision of Food Security: Option or Necessity?

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to determine the value and specifics of the need for provision of national food security in modern Russia, to evaluate the level of necessity for using import substitution in the agro-industrial complex for solving this problem, and to search for the alternative means that allows developing the agro-industrial complex without the critical load on the federal budget. The authors offer the methodological approach to determining the level of national food security and determine the expedience of application of import substitution in the modern Russia’s agro-industrial complex. It is proved that import substitution in the agro-industrial complex in the interests of provision of food security in modern Russia is a voluntary choice of the Russian government, not the objective necessity. This choice contradicts the existing situation in the agro-industrial complex and, instead of stimulating the development of the Russian entrepreneurship in the agro-industrial complex, it leads to increase of its dependence on the state financial support and the atrophy of the capability for independent development. Clustering of agro-industrial complex is much more effective for provision of the national food security in modern Russia, as an alternative to import substitution. For its practical application, the authors offer a cluster model of development of the Russian agro-industrial complex for the purpose of provision of food security.