Climate impact on risks in the agricultural sector exemplified by arid region

Despite modernization, digitalization, and informatization of human activity, economic systems continue to depend on natural factors. First of all, this applies to the agricultural sector, which depends on the dynamics of temperature, amount of precipitation, which affect the cultivation of crops, state of pastures, which is important for the development of animal husbandry. The purpose of this article is to analyze the situation in the Republic of Kalmykia in 2020 caused by natural and climatic disasters. For this purpose, the author used such methods as the analysis of documents, materials of the national and federal media, observation, interviewing during a scientific expedition to the regions of the republic. This approach allowed us to hear the opinions of rural residents whose livelihoods were affected by the unprecedented climatic drought and get a reliable picture of the consequences of the natural anomaly. The Republic of Kalmykia is the driest in the southern part of European Russia. Rural areas of the republic are regularly affected by drought, one successful year alternates with two or three unfavorable ones. The analyzed year of 2020 was the driest, which brought huge losses to the agricultural sector of the republic. About 54 agricultural organizations and 1,416 peasant farms were affected, the productivity of pastures in the republic fell by two or three times due to the drought, and even more in the most affected areas. Agricultural producers suffer huge losses, which will further affect the development of the region’s agro-industrial complex. The article analyzes how internal (agricultural enterprises, farms, authorities, the Ministry of Agriculture) and external resources (federal authorities) interacted in overcoming the emergencies. The lack of scientific analysis of the relationship between natural, climatic and economic factors hinders not only the adoption of the necessary measures to support the region, but also the prevention of negative consequences of various natural anomalies, and the timely and adequate response to them