Livestock sector of the Republic of Kazakhstan: realities and internal reserves

The goal is to show the main directions of increasing the volume of livestock production in Kazakhstan aimed to ensure the country's food security. The article sets the following objectives to analyze the current state of the livestock industry; determine the factors hindering its development; to develop proposals for the introduction of scientific achievements into production. Resultsan analysis of the current state of agriculture is presented, in particular, the livestock sector (the share of the industry in the structure of gross output of agricultural sector, the presence of livestock, volume of livestock production, etc.). The article presents data characterizing the current state of animal husbandry and the reasons that impede economic growth: irrational distribution of livestock in the context of farm categories, low level of its productivity, lack of a feed market, ineffective use of the potential of natural pastures and hayfields, violation of technologies in the procurement of feed, low proportion of breeding stock animals in the total livestock, etc. The conducted studies allowed us to draw the appropriate conclusions – in order to increase the competitiveness of the livestock industry, it is necessary to develop a strategy for its development in the republic, which would allow small households to realize their comparative advantages on market so that the products obtained meet the requirements of food safety and quality from the growing number of urban buyers and consumers using imported goods. Agricultural science of Kazakhstan has sufficient potential for the implementation of an active innovation policy – an issue of particular importance for the country's economy.