Sustainable development of rural areas and the agricultural sector is very important for resource regions, the gross regional product of which is formed by 50% due to extraction and processing of minerals. In order to be able to conduct a competent policy for the development of agriculture in municipal areas, it is necessary to assess the existing potential of rural areas in the municipal districts. The article describes the application of the author’s approach to the assessment of the resource potential for the development of agriculture in the region by the example of the Kemerovo region. It features indicators of the resource potential of rural territories, which determine various aspects of the development of the territory: economic, social and infrastructural. The data of the municipal statistics of the official websites of Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Kemerovo Statistics Agency) are used as a basis for analysis and evaluation. The results of the analysis allow the authors to rank the municipal districts according to the method of rating evaluation based on the proposed indicators. The paper involves some conclusions about the priorities for the development of agriculture in certain municipal areas of the region.