Agricultural land use in the Northern regions of the Republic of Kazakhstan: specifics and factors for increasing profitability

The rational use of agricultural land is of particular importance in the context of global challenges, including climate change, limited natural resources, instability of agricultural markets, and the need to ensure food security. This issue is especially relevant for the northern regions of Kazakhstan, which have high agricultural development potential but face institutional, financial, and infrastructural constraints. The goal is a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of land use in the northern territories of the republic with a focus on economic, digital, and organizational-legal factors. Methods – statistical analysis was used to determine indicators of the economic profitability of the agricultural sector, such as gross regional product, profitability, and investments; comparative-structural analysis was applied to evaluate the distribution of land among different categories of economic entities; the structural-dynamic approach made it possible to trace transformations in coordination and functional processes and in the level of digitalization using the example of the state platform Qoldau.kz. Results – high land concentration in large enterprises was identified, along with limiting barriers, a mismatch between the volume of investment and actual outcomes, significant impact of climatic conditions, and the positive effect of digital services on procedure transparency, access to state support, and agroanalytics. Conclusions – the authors recommend strengthening government support measures, improving legal regulation of land relations, enabling equal access of agricultural entities to digital platforms, expanding the use of sustainable agricultural technologies, and reinforcing organizational management mechanisms to increase the efficiency of land turnover in the northern regions of the country. Many issues related to the research topic remain underexplored and require further development and refinement at the methodological, methodical, and practical levels.