Prospects for the Digitalization of Regional Agro-industrial Complex

Abstract

In accordance with the decrees of the President of the Russian Federation issued in May, the main goal of the agrarian policy for the medium term is to establish a highly productive export-oriented sector that would develop based on modern technologies and would be staffed with highly skilled personnel. According to the approved program measures, proactive use of digital technologies can become a huge driver for (by 3–5 times) performance of the Russian agricultural sector. To date, the share of the Russian digital economy in GDP is small. Russia ranks 15th in the world by the digitalization of the agricultural sector. Having a huge resource potential, Russia seeks to enhance its competitive positions in the agricultural market. In this regard, the authors put forward a hypothesis that the Volgograd region, being one of the leading manufacturers of agricultural products and having a huge production, resource, innovation and export potential, will be able to make a great contribution to the Russian agribusiness that will allow the Russian Federation to become a worthy competitor on the global agricultural market. To this end, the authors have identified forward-looking areas for the development of regional agribusiness in the context of digital transformation. In the course of the study, it has been found that the greatest effect from the introduction of digital tools and platforms in the agricultural sector of the region can be achieved through the formation of an industrial cluster composed of government bodies, leading enterprises, and academic institutions interested in digitalization of the industry. Valuable perspectives in this connection can be provided by the Volgograd State Agrarian University, which is capable of performing complex and knowledge-intensive development and transfer innovations at a high level, as well as training highly skilled personnel adaptive to the demands of the digital economy. Practical implications are determined by suggestions on altering the concept of regional management that assumes shifting from the process model of agribusiness to one which is an object-oriented, more stable and adaptive to transformations.