ABOUT PROBLEMS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENTERPRIZE AND CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF AGRARIAN SECTOR
BESARION NAKOPIA
Georgia is an agrarian country with most part of population employed in agriculture. A significant part of national production is produced here.
Agriculture, being a branch of economy, develops in accordance with economic laws that have an objective nature similar to scientific ones. In spite of their implementation in social environment, one may get the impression that these laws do not comply with people’s wishes. In reality, economic laws regulate activities of large collective farms and their members as well as profound individualists. For example, such individualistic actions as inflation makes a seller increase prices though he might not wish to do this at all; the wish to save time teaches people to stand in queues for hours, yet making people behave like this by means of administrative influence is not so easy. Devaluation makes people get rid of money, etc.
There are many examples in history when neglect of economic laws even in the conditions of tough policy in national economy became a reason of low life-standard. It is more important to obey economic laws in the conditions of inflation and large-scale monopolisation of producers.
Agriculture, being a branch of national economy, is characterised by a whole number of peculiarities. This branch of economy is remarkable for specific regularities stipulated by a special technology of production, peculiarities of trade resources and other production means as well as by peculiarities of their qualitative indicators and distribution. A list of these indicators is quite big. We will mention only some of them:
1. Agriculture is much dependent upon such natural factors as average annual downfall level, sunny days, change of temperature, etc. Influence of these and other natural factors on production branches is, in fact, equal to zero. Yet they might be either favourable or destructive for agriculture.
2. Compared with other branches, development and expansion of agriculture is very problematic due to decrease of agricultural lands.
3. Duration of production process in agriculture depends on vegetation of plants and period of breeding. Thus, farmers cannot know in advance about the duration of these processes. Similar to entrepreneurial branch, It is impossible to reduce production process in agriculture.
4. Production of agrarian sector will not gain monopoly in the market as farmers cannot control volume and prices of agricultural production even within the scale of small region. Rural population buys products in a comparatively regulated market.
5. Agriculture is not only production, but also a social environment and, therefore, change of production structure has an impact on farmers.
6. The ratio of means necessary for acquisition of production means – equipment, cattle and loose housing structures – is very important for creating nominal conditions of agricultural production. Their inefficient use in the conditions of unfavourable external conditions eventually leads to deterioration of financial results.
7. Seasonal nature of agricultural production and extended production cycle affects crediting of farming.
8. As a rule, farmers produce raw store while basic products from the raw store are produced by commercial structures and brought to market. Thus, we cannot but take into account such factors as inadequacy of prices for products and agricultural raw stock irrespective of population’s purchasing ability due to low demand for products. Therefore, a particular part of income moves indirectly from farmers into processing and other branches.
Therefore, consideration of the above-mentioned indicators shows that adaptation to conditions that are characteristic of transition period in agriculture was performed from the viewpoint of objectivity of these peculiarities, which helps us to avoid negative factors in agriculture.
The following measures should be implemented in agricultural sector:
1. Maximal capabilities of the present production infrastructure should be determined. We should take into consideration the fact that radical change of agricultural infrastructure will take much time and money that often cannot be refunded. We should also take into account experience of people working in agricultural sector as well as their unwillingness to go to other branches.
2. Minimum for agricultural production should be determined, which will enable unreversable development process. All available production means should be used for maintaining this minimum.
3. Land privatisation process, as a rule, leads to separation of lands. This requires great changes in land work system. In these conditions, it becomes impossible to determine optimal scales and their scientific verification.
4. The necessity of deep technological processing of products by agricultural enterprises is on the agenda. Practice reveals that it is much more profitable to trade in bread, wine, cheese, sausages than in raw store.
5. In accordance with market requirements, unprofitable branches should be replaced by new ones. Such approach will help to avoid deterioration of financial state of enterprises even in the conditions of tough competition.
6. Financial means should be used rationally in spheres where it is possible to accelerate money circulation and receive more or less good profit per year. Money brings profit when it is in circulation, otherwise it can be “swallowed” by inflation.
7. During the determination of rational structure of production economic calculations should include natural and economic data of the country, historical traditions and customs. The data should not turn into a dogma, but should rather be used with the consideration of time factors.