Assessment of Governmental Support for Agriculture and Rural Areas Development in the Regions of North Caucasus Federal District

In modern Russia, state support for the development of agriculture is of paramount importance. The assumption of this study is that the current measures are insufficient. In this regard, it seems relevant to conduct a retrospective analysis of the effectiveness of state support for the development of rural areas and agricultural producers in the North Caucasian Federal District. The study examines the features and trends of state support in the field of agricultural development and socio-economic development of rural areas. An empirical assessment of the effectiveness of state support in the North Caucasian Federal District is carried out both at the regional level and at the municipal level (using the example of the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania). In the first research part devoted to state support at the regional level, correlation and regression analysis showed that government spending is a significant factor (H1) stimulating production in the agricultural sector in the North Caucasian Federal District. In the second research part devoted to state support at the municipal level, the regression analysis found no grounds for rejecting hypotheses about the positive impact of government spending (H6), investments in fixed assets (H7), the availability of agricultural machinery (H8) and migration growth (H9) on agricultural production in the region under consideration. These findings confirm the importance and effectiveness of government support. The results obtained will enrich empirical data in the field of revealing causal relationships between state support for agriculture and agricultural efficiency at the regional and municipal levels and can be applied by specialists in the field of agricultural economics for the development of support measures for participants of the agricultural sector.