Structural analysis of the development of competitive agricultural activity in Ukraine under wartime conditions

The relevance of the study was determined by the need to identify structural changes in the agricultural sector that occurred under wartime conditions, as well as by the search for effective managerial decisions capable of ensuring the competitiveness of agrarian entrepreneurship within the new economic realities of a shifting institutional environment. The aim of the study was to conduct a structural analysis of the efficiency of agricultural enterprises across regions in order to identify spatial development patterns and to assess the degree of influence of the wartime factor on the economic performance of agricultural production. The study employed the method of cluster analysis, which made it possible to group the regions of Ukraine according to the level of economic efficiency of agricultural enterprises on the basis of multidimensional statistical indicators, including gross output, revenue, profitability, return on investment and investment activity per hectare of agricultural land. The analysis yielded four clusters of regions, which demonstrated significant differences in the level of enterprise performance, resource provision and adaptation to wartime conditions. It was established that the greatest damage was sustained by regions with a high level of concentration in crop production, whilst territories with a more diversified structure demonstrated relatively higher resilience. As a result of the study, the resource base and productive performance of agricultural enterprises were analysed across the identified clusters. The research hypothesis regarding the significant influence of production specialisation on enterprise resilience under adverse institutional conditions was confirmed. The specific features of the current territorial zoning of agricultural production were analysed and enterprise development strategies were identified across the respective clusters. The economic effects of agricultural enterprise operation were determined across the respective clusters, and the relationship between the level of specialisation and enterprise losses arising from the deterioration of farming conditions in 2022 was established. The practical value of the study lies in the possibility of using the results obtained to develop targeted support programmes for agrarian entrepreneurship, to plan measures for the spatial development of the sector and to formulate policy for the recovery of agriculture in the post-war period