Mechanism for sustainable rural development (based on Volgograd region)

The sustainable development of rural areas is an obvious and fundamental goal of the state policy of the Russian Federation. Improving the quality of life in each village, regardless of its distance from the regional center, is the main task of the regions. The article contains a termological analysis of the definition of “sustainable development of rural areas”. It was concluded that the dominant opinion of the authors on this concept is associated with a process that provides for the needs of residents of rural areas and increases their standard of living. The definition of a “mechanism for sustainable rural development” is given, which, through the methods and tools, implements the possibilities of natural, labor, material and financial resources for the effective development of rural economy. Sustainable and harmonious development of rural areas is possible only through the use of state support measures. The economic, environmental, social and demographic situation of rural areas, as well as their individuality, determine the need for continuous improvement of the mechanism of rural development through its methods and tools. The implementation of state support measures plays a significant role not only for rural residents, but also for leaders of agricultural organizations themselves. A decent and comfortable life in the village contributes to the consolidation of personnel. The importance of these aspects being recognized, the program “Integrated rural development” began to be implemented in 2020, which includes a sufficiently wide range of tools to support villages and rural residents. The program is aimed at reducing the gap in the quality of life between the rural and urban population, creating comfortable living conditions, reducing the outflow of residents from rural areas. As a result of the analysis, the potential and opportunities for the sustainable development of rural territories of Volgograd region were confirmed. These are the creation of conditions for providing villagers with comfortable housing, the development of various types of infrastructures, and the improvement of rural areas. The key directions of the mechanism for sustainable development of rural territories are identified: diversification of activities of the rural population, expansion of the possibilities of financial support for the development of rural territories through the public-private partnership involvement, improvement of preferential lending mechanisms, strengthening of grant support for rural communities for the improvement of rural territories.