Improving government support for small agribusiness due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic

Abstract

Abstract. Purpose of the study is improving the mechanism of state regulation of agricultural producers, due to the need to overcome the pandemic and prevent the recurrence of similar scenarios in the future. The object of research is an agricultural producer, belonging to the category of small business. The subject of the study is the relationship between the object of study and the state represented by government bodies and institutions involved in the provision of state support that may arise in the process of overcoming the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Research Methods. A theoretical analysis was used to identify threats from the coronavirus pandemic to agriculture and the agro-industrial complex as a whole. Comparison as a method of cognition was used when comparing the requirements of small businesses for state support and measures actually taken by the government. A systematic approach and modeling were used to summarize the experience of the functioning of the economy in a pandemic and to create patterns of behavior of small agribusiness entities. The method of scientific abstraction made it possible to present the most probable state of small business in the agro-industrial complex, depending on the provision or refusal of state regulatory influence on the economy in order to eliminate the damage caused by the pandemic. The rule of combining historical and logical in their unity allowed us to look at the coronavirus pandemic not as a unique phenomenon in the history of modern economics, but as a negative phenomenon that will potentially be reproduced in the future and the logic of counteraction which requires active intervention at the state level, and in the future - generalization, analysis and improvement of the experience gained. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study is composed of statistical data on the state of the world economy, consumption, unemployment, publications of news agencies and government officials on measures taken to deal with the consequences of the pandemic, existing programs for the development of the digital economy, as well as publications of leading scientists in the agricultural sector on digital problems economics. Results. Within the scope of this study, there were characterized the most negative consequences of the pandemic for the agro-industrial complex, there was carried out the analysis of announced and already taken measures to support entrepreneurship and were described behavior models of small agribusiness entities in the current situation. Scientific novelty. The authors have developed a new method for the rapid diagnosis of a small agribusiness subject, claiming to receive state support for regional and industry programs.