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The
basis of accelerating scientific and technological progress are
innovation processes which allow to maintain a
continuous updating of production based on development of science and
technology. The development of a market economy requires new
approaches of providing the relationship between science and
industry to enhance the competitiveness of the state in the
global market. A competitive factor is an innovation policy.
Previously,
the government took measures for supporting the agro-industrial complex such as
the State agrofood program of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2003-2005, which
have not created conditions for stable development of the agrarian sector. In
2009, the agricultural production grew by 13.8% compared with 2008, while in
2010 the index of the physical volume of gross output of the industry was
88.3%. In many ways, the agricultural
sector has not still achieved the level of two decades ago (Table 1).
Table 1 – Main indicators of
AIC in Kazakhstan for 1990-2010.
|
Indicators |
1990 |
2010 |
Reduction |
|
Gross grain harvest
(thousand tons) |
28487,7 |
12185,2 |
2.3 times |
|
Sugar beet (thousand
tons) |
1043,7 |
152 |
6.9 times |
|
The cultivated area of
major crops (thousand hectares) |
35182,1 |
21438,7 |
1.6 times |
|
Crop yields
(hundredweight per hectare): Grains and legumes Sunflower Sugar beet |
12.2 9.2 239 |
8 4.4 174.3 |
1.5 times. 2.1 times 1.4 times |
|
Livestock: Cattle (thousand
units) Sheep and goats
(thousand units) Pigs (thousand units) Poultry (million
units) |
9757.2 35660.5 3223.8 59.9 |
6175.3 17988.1 1344 32.8 |
1.6 times 2 times 2.4 times 1.8 times |
|
Production of main
types of products of animal husbandry: Meat (thousand tons) Milk (thousand tons) Eggs (million units) |
1559.6 5641.6 4185.1 |
937.4 5381.2 3720.3 |
1.7 times 1.05 times 1.1 times |
There are also
other serious problems:
1.
Labour productivity in agriculture is the lowest and
equals about 3 thousand dollars per an employee a
year. While in developed countries this figure is 50-70 thousand dollars.
2.
In agriculture, an average monthly nominal wage is
almost of the lowest level – 34,171 KZT, lower is
only in the fishing industry - 29 638 KZT (in
industry - 80 909 KZT, construction - 89 780 KZT,
financial activities - 135 653 KZT) (2009 data).
3.
The agricultural sector experiences an investment
crisis. Investment in fixed assets in the industry equals 79
574 mln. tenges. This is 1.7% of the total
investment in fixed assets in the country (industry - 2,232,145
million tenges or 48.7%). This is particularly unattractive industry to foreign
investors. Only 0.031% of the total foreign
direct investment into economy is in
agriculture, while the mining industry attracts 24.6%.
4.
Compared to industry and some other sectors, the low level of
commissioning of fixed assets - 63141 million tenges is in
agricuture (in the industry - 1,065,221 million tenges, in
transport and communications sector - 463 884
million tenges). Provision of agriculture with
equipment is unsatisfactory, the depreciation of the
machine and tractor fleet is 80% and requires complete
replacement. The average age of the current fleet of
tractors and combines is 13-14 years, while the normative
operating life is 7-10 years.
5.
The industry is characterized by high production
costs, high capital intensity, long payback period,
low capital productivity. In the U.S.A. the cost of 1 ton of
grain is about 25 dollars, while in Kazakhstan is from 40 to270
dollars.
6.
According to the World Organization for research and food
distribution to the FAO, the safe level of food import should
not exceed 17% of the consumption level. In Kazakhstan, the
import share in the markets of products of deep processing of
meat, dairy products, fats and oils of animal and vegetable
origin, confectionery, processed fruit and vegetables ranges
from 40% to 60% and demonstrates high level of dependence
of the domestic market on imports.
7.
Currently, domestic production of agricultural
products and its processing do not meet the international and
often national quality standards. The main fraction (40
to 80%) of defective products is of food products supplied by
domestic producers.
8.
The level of profitability from the sale of agricultural
products is 16-17%, while in the industry it is on an
average 62%.
In this
situation there should be new methods of management and support of the agrarian
sector on the basis of innovation. However, innovation processes in
the sector fall behind those in other sectors of economy.
According
to the program of forced industrial-innovative development of Kazakhstan,
adopted by the Government of RK for 2010-2014, the aimed indicators
of agricultural development are the following:
1. Provision of food
independence of the domestic market.
2. The increase in gross value added
of agriculture by no less than 16%.
3. Increasing labor productivity in
the agro-industrial sector from 3000 U.S. dollars per
person employed in agriculture by 2 times at least.
4. Building export capacity of the
industry in total export volume to 8%.
“For the period till 2015 the main
priority of the policy of forced industrialization will be the implementation of
major investment projects in traditional export-oriented sectors of
economy, which will create new business opportunities for small
and medium-sized businesses through targeted development
of local content, the subsequent processing and redistribution.” In 2008,
31.5% of the population employed in the agricultural sector produced only
5.8% of GDP. Development of agro-industrial complex is defined as one
of the main directions of the program on which the state efforts will be
focused. According to the program,
industrial and innovative development of agro-industrial complex will be
achieved through implementation of high-tech investment
projects, as well as by implementing the principles of
integrated water resources management.
At
least 20 major projects are planned to be carried out, including the
construction of 8 livestock farms, 2 poultry farms, 3
greenhouses, 3 dairy farms, a meat processing plant, a bakery
plant and a cotton seed plant. Conditions for attracting major investments
will be created.
Stimulating
measures will involve such traditional instruments as subsidies, soft
lending, microcredit, the development of leasing of agricultural
machinery, special machinery and technological equipment, the development
of insurance system in agro-industrial complex, information and
marketing support, increasing the share of local business in
government procurement.
Subsidization of
agro-industrial complex will continue in the following areas:
-
lowering interest rates for lending to agro-industrial subjects and
the providing with agricultural
machinery and equipment;
-
seed development;
-
increasing productivity and quality of livestock products;
-
increase productivity and quality of crop production, lowering fuel
costs and other inventory items required for the spring field
works and harvesting by subsidizing the production of priority
crops;
-
lowering the cost of fertilizers (except organic) to the
domestic agricultural producers;
-
lowering the cost to agricultural
producers for treating agricultural crops with herbicides produced (formulated)
by domestic producers.
-
development of production management systems and market of
agricultural products;
-
development of livestock breeding.
Thus, the government has taken some concrete measures for the
development of agricultural industries. However, there are many problems
left even in subsidizing areas. For example, how are costs of treating
agricultural crops with herbicides produced (formulated) by domestic producers
lowered to agricultural producers in practice? The mechanism of such cost
reduction involves the tender for supplying herbicides to agricultural
producers. The tender winner usually tries to buy the cheapest chemicals. This
is not a secret to anyone. This happens not only in agriculture but also in all
other sectors of the economy. Such a person is not interested in the
quality of purchased goods. It is important for him to save money and get
more profit. For example, Karasai districy of Almaty region has always
been famous for its apples and was a major supplier of fruit to Almaty
markets. In spring 2011, the farm apple orchards of Dzhandosov
villages were sprayed with chemicals by the village akimat. A month later,
all apple trees were covered with cobwebs and the harvest was lost because
cheap not-tested chemicals of bad quality were used. As a result of the
fact that someone has saved the state money in their favor, first farmers will
not receive any income in the fall (which productivity is it all about?). This
means that the standard of living of farm families will fall dramatically as
their entire annual income comes from the sale of the harvest in the
fall. Second, the population of the country will consume a genetically
modified Chinese apples again. This may not be now, but in the near future
will affect the health of Kazakhstan’s citizens. This is genocide against
the entire nation. Third, the land and multiyear apple orchards were
damaged at great scale.
This is one of reasons which restrains acceleration of the process of
developing scientific and technical, innovative activities in the agrarian
sector. There are also other reasons:
- insufficient financing scientific, technical and innovative
activities;
- decreasing number of scientific personnel and specialists in the
agrarian sector and agroservice structures;
- loss of the qualification level of scientific and productive
personnel;
- lack of software provision of agro-industrial enterprises and research
institutions;
- lack of scientific reserves for accelerating innovations in the
agriculture and processing industries;
- lack of efficient forms of interaction of a science, educational
institutions and agro-industrial production in areas of research, elaboration
and implementation of innovation results, and etc.
At the present time it is
necessary to develop and introduce effective forms and methods
of organizing management and stimulating innovative activities, legal
and financial support for the development of innovation,
organizational and economic mechanisms of innovative functioning of
the sector.
Agro-industrial complex is a
complicated multi-faceted system. Therefore,
innovation processes have their own specifics. The aim of innovation
policy in agro-industrial complex is to create most favorable
conditions for successful and effective innovation activity at all levels
while taking into consideration all stages of innovative cycle from starting
with creation of innovation and ending with introducing them in the
agro-industrial production. There are a lot of methods of implementing
innovation policy in agro-industrial sector as well as in other sectors of
economy. In our opinion, they could be classified as organizational, economic,
legislative and socio-psychological.
Organizational methods of implementing
the innovation policy involves creation of organizationally-managed innovation
system, each element of which will have specific functions, internal and
external ties, and begin to work in accordance with common goals and tasks of
the whole system. Therefore, it is necessary to build innovation infrastructure
in a form of different formations: scientific, scientific and technical and
scientific technological centers, technoparks, technopolis, scientific and
production associations and systems, special formations for producing
knowledge-intensive products.
Institutional transformations of
scientific-technical sector of the agro-industrial complex, besides formation
of innovation infrastructure, must be directed on integration of scientific
organizations with agrarian and supporting companies of the industry and on
creation of structures of smack business to support programs of regional and
interregional innovation-technological centers.
The following methods are considered
to be economic methods of implementing the innovation policy: creation of
economic conditions for implementation of innovation programs and projects,
state financing of innovation activities, mass investment attraction into the
innovation sphere, development of entrepreneurship and commercialization of
innovation projects.
Legislative and normative legal
mechanisms of the innovation policy regulate innovation activity in the AIC and
involve elaboration and adoption of laws and other normative documents, which
should determine the state attitude to development of innovation processes in
the industry, responsibility of state organizations, directions and measures of
state support to creation of favorable conditions for investments in innovation
activity.
Implementing socio-psychological
methods promotes formation of public understanding and approval of the meaning
and the role of innovation processes as one of the most important factors of
economic development of the industry. The supporting factors could be clearly
organized information and propaganda of achievements of the domestic and world
science.
There should be the appropriate
personnel to implement all above mentioned methods of the innovation policy in
the AIC Specialists and managers must
have good knowledge of the innovation process features and work successfully
under conditions of forced development of scientific and technical progress.
Therefore, specialists must be well trained on the problems of development of
innovation processes in universities
and colleges of AIC.
The innovation policy might be
successfully implemented if the following measures are taken: encouraging
investments into high-tech production, replication of which accelerates
development of innovation processes in the agricultural sector; adoption of tax
benefits for subjects implementing new methods; improvement of the depreciation
policy with the aim to create opportunities for enterprises and organization to
increase depreciation funds as a source of investments; development of leasing of
the unique high-tech equipments, and etc.