Agricultural cooperatives in Kazakhstan: state, problems and development mechanisms

Agricultural cooperatives (hereinafter referred to as АС) play an important role in solving and resolving the problems of the agri-food sector, such as hunger and malnutrition, rural employment, strengthening local selfgovernment, reducing power asymmetry and promoting public-private partnerships. The purpose of the article is to identify the main problems and propose settlement mechanisms through a comprehensive analysis of the current state of АС development in Kazakhstan. The article analyzes the number, membership and dynamic changes of АС in the regions of the republic. In order to qualitatively study the state of development of АС, a survey was conducted to identify the level of motivation and activity of the rural population to join АС. As a result, a number of problems were identified that hinder the development of АС, including: frequent changes in the conditions specified in the framework of АС support programs, the problem of income distribution among members of АС, mutual distrust, lack of motivation for peasant or farm farms, households joining АС, insufficient agricultural education, lack of access to consulting services services, lack of productive dialogue and effective integration between processors and small farmers in the sale of products, insufficient professional training of managers and specialists of cooperatives, etc. Summing up the results of the study, we proved that currently Kazakhstan needs to give priority attention to specialized АС, namely: to develop areas of technical support, processing, marketing, delivery, maintenance, create insurance and tax benefits for АС, improve the professional level of managers and specialists of cooperatives, improve the conditions for subsidizing АС compared to other forms of farming.