Community-based approach to local development as a basis for sustainable agriculture: experience from Ukraine

Abstract

The paper substantiates the idea that it is impossible to achieve sustainability of agriculture in Ukraine without appropriate institutional changes in the economic culture of rural community members. Introducing the philosophy of sustainable development to the rural communities' everyday activities may be an impetus for such institutional changes. This hypothesis is substantiated on the analysis of the joint international project by EU and UNDP in Ukraine named 'Community-Based Approach to Local Development', which provided training on sustainable development philosophy and principles of sustainable development for the rural population. The influence of rural communities' participation in the project on the performance of agricultural sustainability was analysed. The results of the research give evidence of a positive and significant impact of communities' involvement in the project on indicators of sustainable agriculture. A conclusion that sustainable agriculture is closer to collectivism than to individualism is made in the paper.