Prospects of youth agricultural entrepreneurship in Ukraine

Purpose. The purpose of the article is to analyze the prospects of youth agricultural entrepreneurship in Ukraine, to identify factors that hinder young people in organizing their own business, and to provide practical recommendations for enhancing entrepreneurship among young people. Methodology / approach. The following methods were used in the study: comparative analysis (identifying problems and goals of regulating youth agricultural entrepreneurship in Ukraine), survey and questionnaire method (sociological survey on youth entrepreneurship and youth attitudes to establish own business), abstract-logical (with theoretical generalization and formulation of conclusions). The sociological survey was carried out in two stages: the first stage was conducted in the period November – December 2017; the object of study of this stage – applicants for higher education of the second (master's) level of the second year of study aged 21 to 23 years (400 persons). The second stage: January – February 2020; the object of study of this stage – graduates of 2017, who passed the first stage of the survey (350 persons). Results. In the process of studying the economic aspects of youth agricultural entrepreneurship in Ukraine, it is found that this issue is not regulated by law and needs to be addressed, in particular to determine the age limits of youth. The authors proposed to add the following definitions to the legislative acts: “youth entrepreneurship”, “young entrepreneurs” and “youth agricultural entrepreneurship”. Based on a comprehensive sociological survey of young people, it was found that there were differences in the results of a survey of the same respondents conducted in 2017 and 2020; due to this, the main restraining factors of the organization of their own business and the problems faced by young entrepreneurs were identified. Based on the obtained results, practical recommendations for intensifying the development of youth agricultural entrepreneurship in Ukraine were developed. Originality / scientific novelty. Theoretical provisions on the regulation of youth entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector were further developed. Based on the results of a survey conducted in 2017 on the prospects of youth entrepreneurship, and analyzing the results of a survey conducted in early 2020, it was assessed the importance of financial support for youth entrepreneurship, business environment, stability and corruption in the country and other restraining factors of development. The main ways to intensify youth agricultural entrepreneurship were proposed, taking into account the results of the study. Practical value / implications. The practical value of scientific research is that the results obtained by the authors will help to form an idea of the challenges faced by young people in organizing their own business, and ways to solve them. The results of the survey of graduates can help solve the problems of financial and entrepreneurial literacy among young people, the level of access to financial resources and other issues related to youth entrepreneurship. In addition, the proposals to intensify youth entrepreneurship will allow government agencies to introduce effective methods of encouraging young people to do business.