Rice farms of the Republic of Kazakhstan: internal reserves and competitiveness

Stable growth of agricultural production volumes combines the solution of economic, social and environmental problems, ensuring long-term efficiency of the industry in the context of limited natural resources and climate change. Objective - analysis of trends in improving the performance and building potential of rice farms in Kazakhstan. Scientific research is aimed at identifying the main problems, determining the ways to solve them and possibility of increasing the profitability of rice growing, taking into account modern challenges and prospects. Methods - retrospective for obtaining data for the past period of time, comparative analysis when comparing the information obtained. Results - based on monitoring of individual enterprises, methodology for calculating sustainability of development of rice-growing complexes was tested, recommendations for increasing their profitability were developed. The results of the study demonstrated that the break-even criteria of one of the analyzed economic entities are at satisfactory level (generalized index is 1.01), which indicates balance of economic, environmental and social indicators. On the contrary, index value of the second entity is below one (0.98), which indicates the need to improve strategies for coordinating, monitoring and increasing effectiveness of its activities. The proposed methodology is flexible tool that can be adapted to the specifics of various agricultural firms cultivating this crop. The role of digitalization as a factor contributing to optimization of production processes, reducing ecological footprint and strengthening social structure is noted. Conclusions - the results obtained confirm the importance of integrated approach to continuous balanced progressive movement for practical implementation of goals set for agro-industrial complex and will find application in strategic planning and assessment of regulatory impact aimed at strengthening economic and financial components of the participants in the Kazakhstan rice market.