The article discusses the strategic role of the agricultural sector of the economy in the process of ensuring food security and the formation of competitive advantages in the international economic space. It was established that a number of fundamental features of the agricultural sector determine the direction of the search for reserves for increasing production and its effectiveness.
It is proved that land resources constitute more than 40% of the productive forces of Ukraine, due to their use about 95% of food is formed and two-thirds of the country's consumption goods.
The importance of the agricultural sector in the country's economy is confirmed by the fact that it produces an average of 12% of GDP (gross domestic product). The downward trend in the share of agricultural products in the country's GDP, since 2001, changed to the opposite in 2008, when the agricultural sector was almost the only growing during the crisis.
Traditionally, the majority of Ukrainian agricultural products are crop production. Crop production is a complex of interrelated industries, which, depending on the means of production used, and the grown crops is divided into narrower industries and their groups. In recent years, as part of the gross output of the Ukrainian agricultural sector, the crop industry exceeded the livestock industry.
It has been established that in recent years the role of the Ukrainian agricultural sector in the maintenance of the foreign trade balance increases. This is all due to the increase in Ukrainian agricultural exports. Since 2011, Ukraine has become the largest exporter of grain; in 2016 it became one of the top ten exporters of agricultural products to the EU countries.
In order to further develop of the Ukrainian agricultural sector, it was proposed to increase the scale of investment activity, also provide legal rationing of basic environmental requirements for agricultural production, to implement the results of scientific research into the practice of agricultural enterprises and to intensify communication between all participants of the agrarian market.