The potential volume of government support for a region's agricultural sector in a climate of import substitution

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to help enhance existing methods for determining the size of budgetary funding to be outlaid for the support of a region's agriculture. To this end, the authors introduce a methodology that factors in the pursuit of import substitution policy and relies on the level achieved in the previous year to determine a specific amount within overall expenditure from the budget. The study involved investigating a set of factors and conditions that may influence the size of government support for the agricultural sector in a region (herein Siberian Federal District) and surrounding areas, and conducting an analysis of existing techniques for measuring the volume of government support for agriculture. Based on the above research, the authors designed a special methodology for measuring the volume of government support for a region's agriculture, which determined the size of support for agriculture per 1 ruble of gross output and also implied outlaying additional funding for specific programs on import substitution. The study revealed that, in planning expenditure from the regional budget for 2017, the government should have brought the size of funding on the 'Agriculture and Fisheries' section up to at least 609 million rubles (210 million rubles more than in 2016). The findings from this study could be utilized by government authorities in measuring the volume of support provided for the agricultural sector, including in terms of projects on implementing a strategy of import substitution.