Factors Influencing Food Markets in Developing Countries: An Approach to Assess Sustainability of the Food Supply in Russia

Abstract

Providing sustainability of the food supply is becoming increasingly challenging in today's rapidly changing global economic environment. Food security remains a serious problem, especially in developing countries where the challenge of the sustainable food supply is exacerbated by the rapid rise in the population, limited access to food intake, vulnerability, price volatilities, protection measures imposed by the government, and other distorting influences. Russia is classified as a middle-income country that is nationally self-sufficient in its food supply. However, amid the economic recession and restrictions on foreign trade in food, many households in Russia are becoming increasingly vulnerable to food insecurity. In the case of Russia, this paper aims to assess the sustainability of the food supply, and identify the factors that affect food security. In order to establish the impact of socio-economic variables on food security at the macroeconomic level, a regression model was estimated. The study has identified the factors that influence food security in terms of agricultural production, food self-sufficiency, and foreign trade. The relationships between the regressands and corresponding regressors have been discovered, in view of alternations between positive and negative influences on the dependent variables. Additionally, a significance of the relationships has been measured. The results of the regression analysis suggest that the sustainability of the food supply in Russia is threatened by inflation and a degrading purchasing power of the population from people shifting towards cheaper products of lower quality, while exporters seek higher profits outside the country and thus create food shortages in the domestic market.

Self-Sufficiency versus Security: How Trade Protectionism Challenges the Sustainability of the Food Supply in Russia

“…Abundant food stocks in some countries coexist with shortages in some others, aggravating nutritional inequalities in available and accessible food supply and threatening food security. International trade plays a vital role in stabilizing food supplies and demands between the countries [38], however, trade liberalization drives dietary pattern changes [37] and poses many threats to a sufficient response by the supply side to meet the growing demand in terms of adequate and healthy nutrition [39]. RFS, as opposed to the GFSI, links rational food security with agricultural and foreign trade frameworks and reflects the volume of food production and imports in terms of recommended food consumption patterns, not only agricultural import tariffs.…”

Implications of Climatic and Non-climatic Variables on Food Security in Developing Economies: A Conceptual Review

“…Erokhin V et al [79], found that there was significant causality between dependent variables and explanatory variables, while food prices, population and CO 2 emissions were not significant factors to define food security in Malaysia. Applanaidu SD et al [58], concluded that biodiesel production, exchange rate and government expenditure on rural development variables were the crucial factors to food security in Malaysia.…”

“…Total food-grain production may be considered as a sole component to observe the food security at national level [38,40,58,[77][78][79][80]. Existing studies used several methods to estimate the food security at individual to national level, like [26], mentioned that per capita dietary energy supply is best estimator to measure the food security.…”

Effects of a Tariff Reduction on Grain Self-Sufficiency: Evidence from Country-Level Panel Data

“…Food self-sufficiency and food sustainability are closely related [11,12]. The decline in the food self-sufficiency rate (SSR) means a decrease in domestic food production, which tends to result in the conversion of the agricultural land for industrial or other purposes, as we have seen in many developing countries.…”

“…This is because there is an irreversibility, which means a very high cost to restore agricultural land, when the land is converted to other uses [13][14][15]. In this sense, a recent study of Erokhin [12] has also used the food SSR as an indicator of sustainable domestic food supply.…”