The State of and Prospects for the Development of Small Businesses in the Agricultural Sector of Ukraine

The aim of the article is to study the current state of small businesses operating in the agricultural sector of the Ukrainian economy and to substantiate the ways for increasing their efficiency, which will fully reveal their potential. In Ukraine, small businesses make a significant contribution to gross agricultural production and remain a stabilizing link of the economy. They smooth out price fluctuations and manufacture niche products, thereby ensuring the food needs of the population and the appropriate level of food security of the state. However, they are in unequal competitive conditions compared to medium-sized and large agricultural producers. The low level of their provision with agricultural machinery leads to low labor productivity and to a large extent affects the completeness and timeliness of implementing a range of works on growing and harvesting crops. A significant problem for small enterprises remains the imperfection of state support programs for farms, in particular, the unevenness of support during the year, changes in the allocation of funds from the state budget, complication of the procedure for submitting documents for consideration by commissions, and imposition of additional limitations. This leads to a decrease in the number of recipients of such support as well as to the denial by farmers themselves to receive such support. The adopted amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Farming” do not yet prompt personal peasant households to transform into farm businesses. The state policy for stimulating the development of small businesses in the agricultural sector of Ukraine should be based primarily on solving the issue of further functioning of households. At the same time, the state support measures should be aimed at strengthening organizational and economic assistance in the creation and functioning of family farms, with their subsequent integration into agricultural cooperatives.