The Agricultural Sector of Ukraine’s Economy: A Vision of the Financial Context for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

The agricultural sector of the economy has a great potential to influence various aspects of sustainable development, such as economic stability, social equality, and ecological balance. However, one of the critical problems in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is the limitation of financial resources, which significantly narrows the opportunities of the agricultural sector and holds back its post-war recovery based on the green economy. The article's purpose is to typologize the theoretical and methodological foundations of the sustainable ontogenesis of the agricultural sector of the Ukrainian economy, taking into account the mutual influences and interdependencies between development and the financial and regulatory context of achieving the agro-oriented Sustainable Development Goals. The article analyses tasks and indicators and presents the empirical basis for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in the context of overcoming hunger and developing agriculture adapted to the realities of Ukraine. The problems of the agricultural sector of the economy, which the government tried to solve during the 2000-2020s, were identified, and the interdependence between these problems and the agro-oriented Sustainable Development Goals was established. The financial context of programs supporting the sustainable development of the agrarian sector of the economy in the pre-war period was determined, and their content, advantages and disadvantages were systematically characterized. The fact of systemic lagging of niche-sectoral financial support programs for agricultural commodity producers from reforms in the public finance management system and its derivatives has been revealed. The study results indicate that Ukraine's agricultural sector is currently at the crossroads between stability and sustainable development, with the former being predominant. In this regard, it is necessary to ensure the transition from state support to state aid (for specific branches of the sector), from state support for crop production to state support for livestock production, and from infrastructure financing to the development of the Institute of Rural Construction.