Nowadays, one of the priorities of the economic policy of any country is the state regulation of the agro-industrial complex. Within the framework of regulatory legal acts are adopted, program documents are developed aimed for ensuring the sustainable development of agricultural production sectors, agribusiness spheres, as well as rural areas.
The agro-industrial complex of Kazakhstan, as well as in all countries, is one of the main long-term national priorities and a strategically important direction of state policy that ensures the country's food security. Thus, in the Address of Elbasy N. A. Nazarbayev to the people of Kazakhstan "Strategy "Kazakhstan-2050", the task was set to conduct an economic policy for modernizing agriculture.
A purposeful agricultural policy in combination with effective mechanisms of state regulation allows us to achieve high indicators of performance and efficiency of this industry.
Accordingly, the mechanisms of state support for the agro-industrial complex have their own characteristics associated with the specifics and level of development of this industry, as well as with the national priorities of the country. At the same time, these mechanisms should take into account various factors, ranging from the availability of land resources in the country to the trends in the development of agriculture in foreign countries.
In order to implement the long-term strategic goals and objectives of the country's agriculture development, a number of program documents have been adopted, including the National Development Plan of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2025 and the State Program for the Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2017-2021, a National project is being developed. These documents provide for tasks aimed ensuring the competitiveness of the agro-industrial complex, increasing labor productivity and strengthening the positions of the agro-industrial sector in world markets.
Consequently, the policy in the agro-industrial complex is focused on the development of processing of agricultural products, ensuring the country's food security, increasing agricultural productivity and the production of export-oriented environmentally friendly products.
Agriculture, as noted by the Head of State K. K. Tokayev in his address to the people of Kazakhstan dated September 2, 2019 "Constructive public dialogue is the basis of stability and prosperity of Kazakhstan", is the main resource and determining factor of economic stability of society, as well as the basis for the development of agriculture.
Meanwhile, the role of agriculture in the development of the economy of Kazakhstan is currently not high enough. Thus, since 2000, the percentage of agriculture in GDP has decreased from 8.1% to 4.6% in 2016, with a subsequent increase to 5.3% in 2020.
While, it should be noted that countries such as the United States, Russia, Brazil, and Canada, which are the main exporters, have about 1% - 6% of the proportion of agriculture in GDP. For example, in the United States, the proportion of agriculture in GDP is about 1%, the country is in the top 10 in terms of agricultural exports and has a high level of agricultural development.
At the same time, despite the fact that Kazakhstan is a traditionally agrarian country, where more than 40% of the country's population lives in rural areas, there is a decrease in the percentage of people employed in agriculture from 16.2% in 2016 (1.4 million people) to 13.5% in 2020 (1.2 million people).
Self-employed people predominate among the working population, the percentage of which also tends to decrease from 63% in 2016 to 58% in 2020.
Figure 1- Dynamics of the number of employed people in agriculture
The percentage of agriculture in the country's GDP in 1995 was 12.3%, and in 2020 it decreased by 7 points and amounted to 5.3%. Meanwhile, according to the data of the Bureau of National Statistics of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Physical output index (POI) of gross agricultural products (services) in 1995 amounted to 75.3%, and in 2020-105.6%
Figure 2- Physical output index of gross agricultural output (services), and its proportion in the country's GDP (%)
In order to further develop the industry, the State Program for the Development of the Agro - Industrial Complex of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2017-2021 (hereinafter - State Program) was adopted in 2017.
In 2018 and 2020, changes were made to the State Program related to the adjustment of target indicators, tasks and funding volumes. The goal of the State Program is to increase labor productivity in the agro-industrial complex and the export of processed agricultural products by at least 2.5 times over 5 years compared to 2015.
The implementation of this goal includes 9 tasks, increasing the availability of financing for agricultural entities, the development of science and technology transfer, increasing the level of technical equipment and intensification of the agricultural sector, etc.
In 2020, the Accounts Committee for Control over the Execution of the Republican Budget conducted a public audit "Interim assessment of the implementation of the State Program for the Development of the Agro-industrial complex of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2017-2021, as well as the effectiveness of the use of funds of anti-crisis measures".
During the public audit, it was noted that the development of the State Program and amendments to it, as well as its implementation, were characterized by certain shortcomings and deficiencies. For individual problems of the industry identified by the State Program, the Action Plan for the implementation of the program did not specify ways to solve them through specific measures and indicators. Thus, the analysis of the effectiveness and sufficiency of measures aimed at the development of agriculture and agriculture within the framework of the implementation of the State Program showed that in 2017-2019, non-fulfillment of measures planned for the implementation of two tasks was revealed: improving the efficiency of water resources use and ensuring the availability of sales markets and the development of exports of products.
A significant failure to achieve the results of the State Program has been established against the background of a high percentage of the disbursement of allocated budget funds. Thus, in 2017, the disbursement of allocated funds amounted to 99.6%, while 14 measures of the State Program were not fulfilled (out of 95 planned measures, or 14.7%), which resulted in the failure to achieve 1 target indicator (out of 7 planned, or 14.3%) and the failure to fulfill 17 indicators of results (out of 64 planned, or 26.6%) and the disbursement of allocated funds amounted to 99.6%.
In 2018, similarly to 2017, with almost full utilization of the allocated funds (99.9%), non-fulfillment of 4 measures (out of 83, or 4.8%) was revealed, which resulted in the failure to achieve 2 target indicators (out of 8, or 25%) and non-fulfillment of 4 indicators of results (out of 41, or 9.8%).
The funds allocated for 2019 have been disbursed almost in full, or by 99.9%. Not filled 13 events (out of 89 or 14.6%), which resulted in failure to achieve the target indicators 5 (of 8, or 62.5%) and failure of the 15 indicators of results (out of 40, or 37.5%).
Individual indicators and outcome indicators, including the part in their achievement of subcontractors were not fully implemented because of inadequate control and monitoring. Thus, the POI of wholesale trade in food products: in 2018, with the plan of 113%, it actually amounted to 111.5%; in 2019, with the plan of 118%, it actually amounted to 114.8%.
In addition, during the implementation of the State Program, weak interaction of the Ministry of Agriculture with central state and local executive bodies was established, which, in turn, led to the late implementation or non-fulfillment of certain measures, tasks, achievement of indicators and indicators provided for by the State Program.
Also, according to the audit, the Ministry of Agriculture, using data on import volumes, determines the security of the population's need for food products, both at the expense of domestic production of Kazakhstan and at the expense of imported food from other countries. At the same time, when determining food security, the Ministry of Agriculture does not consider food independence, which is calculated based on the resources formed by the production volumes in Kazakhstan, which would allow obtaining objective information about the ability of the country's domestic production, as well as reflecting independence from imports.
The livestock industry used a subsidy system for supporting large agricultural enterprises that produce less than 30% of agricultural products, which was quite inefficient in terms of influencing the result. The application of this approach, in turn, formed a dependent attitude on the part of large agricultural entities. At the same time, small agricultural formations and personal subsidiary farms of the population, which produce the main part of agricultural products, could practically not enjoy state support due to their non-compliance with the established requirements.
Also, during the audit, a high risk of inefficient and inappropriate use of loans issued through financial organizations was noted, which was associated with poor-quality monitoring by the authorized body, the presence of an insufficient level of qualified personnel, the lack of automation of integrated systems and databases provided for by the strategy of Agrarian Credit Corporation JSC.
Furthermore, when implementing the task of the State Program "Improving the quality of public services and ensuring the introduction of digital technologies in the agro-industrial complex", the Ministry of Agriculture uses information systems, in particular E-agriculture, which has not been put into commercial operation and does not fully comply with the approved feasibility studies.
Thus, the results of the public audit of the implementation of state policy in the agro-industrial complex of the country, as well as the effectiveness of the use of funds aimed for its development, indicate the necessity for further improvement of the system of public administration, planning and formation of state policy in the agro-industrial complex.