Assessing Sustainable Development Potential of Rural Territories

Abstract

The paper presents an analysis of the resource potential of sustainable rural development in two regions of the Russian Federation, namely, the Altay territory (which is an agricultural region) and the Kemerovo region (an industrial region with an auxiliary role of agriculture). Agriculture is predominantly developing in agricultural areas represented by a comprehensive complex of resources. The lack of systemic approach in agricultural development has led to the irrational distribution of productive forces, inferior development of social and household infrastructure, and other imbalances having adverse effects on agricultural economic performance and living conditions in rural areas. To address this problem, the authors have developed an original method of resource potential analysis for rural areas, including a combination of economic, social, and infrastructure indicators.