A comparative analysis of investment activity in the agricultural sector of the economy of the Republic of Belarus and the EAEU countries has been carried out. The features of investment processes in agriculture in the context of the regions of Belarus (the amount of investment, the structure of funding sources, the technological structure) have been studied. The influence of the state and structure of the material and technical base of agricultural producers on the effectiveness of their production and economic activities has been determined.

Factors contributing to maintaining the profitability of rural producers of the Republic of Belarus are considered. Promising methodological approaches that allow coordinating the issues of necessity, expediency and availability of loans are identified. The indicators that reflect the necessary level of maintaining the profitability of rural producers and are the basis for calculating the adequacy of credit resources provided are listed. The necessity of attracting a loan by an enterprise for a given amount of product is justified based on the achieved equality of price conditions in the market of goods and credit resources. A method is proposed for determining the loan rate acceptable for rural producers, which differs from the existing cost approach by assessing the ability of an enterprise to effectively use credit based on determining the required income of the enterprise that pays for credit investments.

The paper deals with a subject of sheep production and the rise of sheep husbandry in the affected rural areas of Belarus contaminated following the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Today, sheep farms are steadily growing in numbers far and wide and the sector sees revival again after it was completely eliminated during the first post­accident years. This is essentially due to both, the improvement of the local radiological situation and the measures taken by the government of the Republic of Belarus. The growth of output from sheep production in contaminated areas is thought to contribute to the national economy and effectually employed territorial resources.