Formation of a Set of National Food Security Indicators

Abstract

The purpose of this scientific article is to form a set of indicators of national food security in order to diagnose the processes of food supply and self-sufficiency in the direction of a comprehensive and clear assessment of the actual level of national food security and independence and to identify compliance with the regulatory level, as well as to find effective ways to improve the national socio-economic development for the long term.To achieve this purpose, a wide range of research methods has been used, the main of which were the methods of generalization and synthesis, scientific abstraction, analytical diagnostics, and regulatory and index criteria. The dialectical method of cognition of socio-economic processes, the formal-logical method and the method of system analysis have been applied in order to better understand the processes of providing the country with food, the formation of food independence from imports, the identification of the regularities of the processes of self-sufficiency in food stocks, as well as to take into account the impact of macroeconomic factors on improving the level of national food supply and food security.The author formulates his own definition of "food security indicator" as an actual statistical value of the indicator (in dynamics), which reflects the level of provision with the resource potential for the full production of the optimal amount of food per capita (in accordance with the established standards). The "food security criterion" is identified as a threshold, an acceptable level of the indicator, the value of which indicates the state of food independence of a certain region in particular and the country as a whole.The indicators characterizing the level of national food security have been improved in the context of the research of such aspects as quantitative, aimed at providing the country with sufficient food; qualitative, focused on providing the population with quality and safe food; and socio-economic, which involves establishing a level of income sufficient to ensure access to food.The main composition of indicators and factors (conditions) of national food security and a set of indicators of national food security has been formed in order to address important issues of food supply in accordance with the potential capabilities of the country in the production, storage, processing of agricultural products to provide food for all categories of the population with appropriate levels of consumption, as well as food of proper quality and safety.It is proved that at the present stage of economic development, all groups of indicators of food security and independence of the country (criteria of accessibility and sufficiency of food security, food self-sufficiency and food independence from imports) should be used. The proposed criteria and developed indicators are of both theoretical and practical importance for the economic and socio-demographic development of the country in the future.