THE ROLE OF INDIVIDUAL FARMS IN REGIONAL LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION (THE CASE OF VOLYN REGION)

Abstract

Livestock sector constitutes one of the leading agricultural branches in Volyn Region, since it provides both regional food security and economic benefits for individual farms, which currently are major livestock producers. The article tries to disclose the functioning of modern livestock breeding in individual farms, including highlighting the main problems and prospects of livestock breeding in this kind of households. Methodologically this study is based on a systematic approach to the study of socio-economic processes and phenomena occurring in individual farms using a number of methods, including theoretical generalization, comparison and analysis, as well as system-structural analysis of statistical data. The study found that fragmentation of agricultural land plots resulted in weakening of ties between individual farms, but the latter increased their share in livestock regional production up to 66.3%. This figure rises to north as the northern areas of Volyn Region have a small number of farms and relatively worse agro-climatic and soil conditions. In 2015, individual farms in Volyn region produced 83% of milk, 52% of meat, 93.3% of wool and 88% of eggs of the total amount. This may be explained by the fact that individual farms not only supply their own needs but receive additional revenue from product sales, partially satisfying the demand in animal products of the urban population. As a result, individual farms increase their significance and strengthen their position as the leader among all categories of households in terms of agricultural production. Several regional development programs launched in Volyn Region posturize an important factor for improvement of individual farms and increase in their livestock production. The main purpose of aforementioned programs is to support individual farms, providing them with technical and financial assistance. However, a number of acute problems hinder the development of individual peasant households, including inadequate funding, low purchase prices for animal products and high feed prices, lack of technical support and high complexity of production process. Solving problems listed above would not only further stimulate the development of individual farms, but also would improve the living standards of the rural population in Volyn region.