Regional disproportions in agricultural development in Russia

The transition to the market economy considerablyaffected Russian agriculture. This was mainly reflected in the change in the ratio of agricultural production by regions. In general, the focus of agriculture is shifting from north to south and from east to west to regions located to the south of the conditional line Smolensk-Moscow-Saransk-Samara. The share of regions of Northern Russia and regions east of the Urals decreased significantly. These changes entail inevitable social transformations, since agriculture is one of the basic sectors of the economy, supporting not only the economic and food security of the country, but also performing a number of social and cultural functions in rural areas. In this regard, the task of studying regional disproportions in the development of the country’s agriculture is relevant. And the purpose of the article is the comparative analysis of the development of agriculture in the regions of Russia, the assessment of the share of regions in domestic agricultural production and the dynamics of its change over the past twenty years. In order to achieve this goal, tabular, graphical methods, analysis and synthesis are used. It was found that structural changes are expressed in the growth of the relative share of crop production in comparison with animal husbandry. In addition, the share of individual crops and poultry in total production is growing, partly due to the geographical movement of the main centers of production to a warmer climate zone. Also, as a result of the transformation of the industry, the specialization of regions in certain areas of crop or livestock production became more obvious. In other words, the weight of individual regions and republics in the production of individual products is increasing. The data obtained during the study can be useful in plans’ development to support agriculture, both in general and in specific regions, to the researchers of the agro-industrial complex and the labor market in the regions, as well as the regional economy as a whole.