State and development trends of peasant farm enterprises in Penza region

The formation of the private sector in agriculture was caused by structural changes in the agro-industrial complex. One of the representatives of the private sector in the agricultural sector is a peasant farm enterprise, a form of farming that has mobility and flexibility in the market economy and contributes to its stable development. Farm enterprises also enhance the use of available material, technical, labour and economic resources. The article shows the number of peasant farm enterprises and performance indicators from 2008-2020. For a more holistic and systematic approach to the development prospects of peasant farm enterprises in the region, a SWOT analysis was compiled to systematise the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to development.


Introduction
In Penza region during the years of market transformation, small forms of economic activity, represented by peasant farm enterprises and individual entrepreneurs, have become an integral part of the agricultural economy. The surge in the development of farmer movements is associated with the reforms of the early 1990s in Russia during the transition period. In accordance with Federal Law № 74-ФЗ of 11.06.2003 "On peasant farm enterprises", a peasant farm enterprise is an association of citizens related by kinship and (or) property, having property in common ownership and carrying out joint production or economic activities (production, processing, storage, transportation and sale of agricultural products), based on their personal participation [1,2].
In January 1990, a non-governmental non-profit organisation uniting Russian farmers at the federal level -the Russian Association of Peasant Farm Enterprises and Agricultural Cooperatives (AKKOR) -was established. The principal objective of AKKOR is to protect the rights and interests of the Russian peasantry and the farming community represented by small and medium-sized agricultural producers and to enhance the efficiency of the peasant (farming) sector of the economy. The Russian Association of Peasant Farm Enterprises and Agricultural Cooperatives comprises 64 regional peasant unions and associations which unite over 600 district-level farmer organizations comprising more than 93 thousand farms. "Farmers make a significant contribution to Russia's overall agricultural production: last year they accounted for 12% of the country's total agricultural output. Moreover, in some areas, farmers are ahead of even the largest agricultural enterprises, showing impressive growth dynamics", said Dmitry Patrushev [3].

Materials and methods
The research was conducted using general scientific methods (dialectical, analysis and synthesis, comparison and analogy), as well as special methods of economic science (system analysis, comparative analysis, economic-mathematical methods) based on data from official statistics, Ministry of Agriculture of Penza region, materials of own research.

Results
The farming sector in Penza region provides positive dynamics of agricultural production (Figures 1,  2). Agricultural organisations account for 64% of crop production, peasant farm enterprises -for 18%, and household farms -for 18%.  Agricultural organisations account for 79% of livestock production, household farms -for 17%, and peasant farm enterprises -for 4%.
The change in the number of peasant farm enterprises and their performance indicators for the Penza region are presented in Table 1.
The analysis of the data presented in Table 1 showed that from 2008 to 2012 there was a trend of steady growth in the number of registered peasant farm enterprises. The growth in the number of PFEs 3 by 2012 was due to financial incentives, including the implementation of programs to support beginning farmers, the reception of funds from the Ministry of Economic Development, and the broad institution of farming development in a number of Russian regions [4,5]. Since 2012, the number of registered peasant farm enterprises has decreased significantly -by 48%. According to the Association of peasant farm enterprises and agricultural cooperatives of Russia (AKKOR), such a sharp decline is mainly caused by the unfavourable conditions to which the farming sector is subjected (restrictive, discriminatory measures, administrative pressure and generally unbalanced agrarian policy).
The total land area used by peasant farm enterprises and individual entrepreneurs was 424,800 hectares by 2020, and the average land use in the region increased to 250.9 hectares.
The  The dynamics of the sown area of different groups of crops is shown in Figure 3. In the period of 2008-2020, the sown area increased by 52.1%, including cereals and leguminous crops -by 56.7%, fodder crops -by 59.0%, industrial crops -by 69.0%, potatoes and vegetables -by 57.2%.
During the analyzed period the number of cattle in peasant farm enterprises, including individual entrepreneurs, increased by 72,0 %, which caused the growth of cattle meat (in slaughter weight) and milk production in comparison with 2008. Since 2008 there has been an increase in poultry population by 85.5% (Figure 4)   For a more holistic and systematic approach to the prospects of the region's PFE development, a SWOT-analysis was compiled, which allowed to systematize the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats to development (Table 2) [6,7,8]. 1. Strong dependence of performance, and thus financial performance, on natural conditions. 2. Low level of production intensification. 3. Low level of competitive goods production. 4. Difficulties in obtaining market information and advisory services of a legal, economic and technological nature and in improving qualifications. 5. Lack of enterprises for processing crop products.

Possibilities
Threats 1. Increased production through the use of previously vacant areas. 2. Opportunity to intensify production through the use of modern machinery and the mechanisation of manual labour. 3. Reduction of interest rates on loans, improvement of the quality of banking services. 4. Ensuring the sustainability of rural development. 5. Employment and self-employment of the rural population. 6. Improvement of state support measures.
1. Adverse and dangerous weather and climate phenomena. 2. Depletion of non-renewable natural resources: soil fertility, water resources. 3. Agricultural and energy price disparity. 4. Increasing interest rates on credit. 5. There is no mechanism of regular interaction between the state and municipal authorities, on the one hand, and the unions, and the unions, associations of peasant farm enterprises and household farms, rural entrepreneurs, on the other hand.
Summary of the results of the SWOT-analysis of PFEs allows making the following conclusions: farming in Penza region is developing steadily, demonstrating annual growth of production and increase in cultivated areas, it is a driving force for the modernization of rural areas, a consumer of the latest agricultural technologies. Farmers make a significant contribution to the region's agricultural production.