Strategic objectives in ensuring Kazakhstan’s food security

Kazakhstan’s agrarian sector is the most important sphere of the republic’s economy, possessing significant resources for supplying the population with food within rational dietary nutritional standards and for exporting substantial volumes of grain, oilseed crops, vegetables, and meat. The objective - is to provide a scientific substantiation of the task of strengthening the food security of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the current socio-economic situation. Methods include the analytical method for studying trends in the development of the AIC and the provision of products to regional populations, the monographic method for identifying factors affecting the level of food accessibility, and the calculation-constructive method for determining prospective parameters of deep structural changes in agricultural sectors. Results – the state, problems, and ways of solving the food issue in the country are analyzed. In recent decades, there has been a trend of growth in agricultural production; at the same time, the level of consumption of a number of the most important agricultural goods does not meet medical dietary standards through domestic production. There are barriers to the transformation of the processing industry, and the capacities of processing enterprises are underutilized, which causes high imports of certain types of food, a steady increase in prices for basic products, i.e., inflation in the food market is intensifying, while at the same time the rate of growth of the population’s incomes is insignificant, which reduces its ability to use food products. The noted arguments are a consequence of insufficient state regulation of the agro-industrial complex. Conclusions – the authors of the article recommend the implementation of organizational and economic measures and the designation of target priorities in improving the domestic agrarian segment, aimed at overcoming difficulties in food provision, improving the effectiveness of agro-food activities and increasing the incomes of rural residents, and ensuring stable economic and demographic advancement. It seems appropriate to carry out monitoring, forecasting, and control of the state of food self-sufficiency.

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