A Spatial Assessment of the Production and Economic Performance of the Agro-Industrial Complex in the North Kazakhstan Region

Abstract

Agricultural planning at the district level requires a transparent comparison of investments, production, financial returns, and resource availability. This study evaluates the relative production and economic performance of 13 districts in the North Kazakhstan Region based on seven groups of indicators: investment activity, gross agricultural output, crop yields, livestock productivity, crop profitability, livestock profitability, and capital intensity. To compare heterogeneous indicators, proportional normalization was used, in which each district’s value is expressed as a share of the region’s total value. The final score is calculated by summing the scores for the seven factors, after which the districts are grouped into five levels of production and economic activity using the equal-interval method. The absence of certain types of livestock products is treated as a zero contribution to the corresponding subindex and is interpreted with regard to the territorial specialization of the districts. A sensitivity analysis using Min-Max normalization demonstrated high stability of the ranking (Spearman’s correlation coefficient ρ = 0.94). The Kyzylzhar District received the highest total score (140.9), while the Ualikhanov District received the lowest (59.0). The results obtained are intended for a comparative spatial–economic assessment of districts and to support regional agricultural planning.