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Abstract
The article analyzes food security in the Russian Federation. In the international realm, Russia is different from other countries in that it defines security through the prism of national interest. In this regard, Russian leaders have expressed concern over the volume of food imports, the dollar value of imports, and the degree to which the nation lacks self-sufficiency in certain food commodities. In the domestic realm, the evidence about food security is mixed. Food consumption and production have increased since 2000. The paper finds that poverty and food insecurity often go hand in hand. A discussion is presented about which groups in the Russian population are most food insecure. The paper also assesses state policies for their impact on food security.
Notes
1. Food security also relates to the percentage of income that is spent on food. In poor developing nations it is not uncommon for households to spend 60–70% or more of their income on food. These families are food-insecure.
2. Hunger refers to the scarcity of food in a country, usually accompanied by low caloric daily intake. Hunger is any caloric intake below the minimum established by the UN World Food Program of 2000 cal/day. There are two types of malnutrition: a protein deficiency – and this is the most common usage when talking about hunger – and micronutrient (vitamin and mineral) deficiency. The latter is a serious problem but not commonly used in the definition of hunger (World Hunger and Poverty Facts and Statistics Citation2012, 1).
3. According to FAO data, only 2% of the world’s hungry are found in developed nations, using the traditional definitions of hunger and malnutrition. Recently, a new definition of malnutrition has emerged that includes obesity, based on the argument that obesity often results from improper nutrition and the consumption of poor quality calories rather than too few calories.
4. The National Security Strategy to 2020 may be found at www.scrf.gov.ru/documents/99.html.
5. The doctrine calls for “food independence of the Russian Federation” based upon quantitative and qualitative measures as established by Russian law. Section 2, article 8 of the doctrine establishes quantitative indicators for food supply that domestic production should fulfill. For example, to achieve food security Russia aims to produce 95% of the grain it consumes, 95% of its potatoes, 85% of its meat and meat products, 80% of its fish products, and 90% of its milk and milk products.
6. According to Russia’s agreement with the WTO, Rosselkhoznadzor should not act unilaterally before it gives the exporting country an opportunity to propose corrective measures. When a potential problem arises, Rosselkhoznadzor is to send a preliminary report to the exporting country that details the problems and wait for a response before imposing an import ban (Working Party Citation2011, 5).
7. During the first eleven months of 2012 the US exported $585 million worth of beef and pork to Russia, making Russia the sixth largest market for US beef and pork.
8. Article 8 of the law laid the basis for state programs, which “define the goals and basic directions for the development of agriculture and regulation of specified markets in the medium term, financing, and mechanisms for the implementation of the measures that are envisioned.”
9. In the law, priorities are to achieve stable rural communities and their socio-economic development, increase agricultural production and the efficiency of agricultural producers, achieve full employment for the rural population and improve their standard of living, and ensure the rational use of land.
10. Goskomstat was the Russian government’s statistical agency, which today is called Rosstat.
11. Using an index whereby 1995 = 100, in 2000 real disposable monetary income equaled 88 and real wages equaled 91. By 2010, real disposable monetary income equaled 215.5 and real wages equaled 263 (Rossiyskiy statisticheskiy ezhegodnik Citation2012, 170). Of course, the rise in consumption also fueled by increased food imports.
12. Caloric intake also differs between Russia’s urban and rural consumers. In 2010 the average daily caloric intake for urban residents was 2587 cal, and in rural areas the average intake was 2831 cal (Sotsial’noye polozheniye Citation2011, 264). According to household surveys conducted by the Russian government, in 2011 urban households consumed more fruits and berries, meat and meat products, milk and milk products, and eggs; whereas rural households consumed more bread and bread products, potatoes, fruits and melons, sugar, and vegetable oil and other fats. The consumption of fish and fish products in urban and rural households was essentially equal (Potrebleniye produktov Citation2012, 8–9).
13. The poorest households, the lowest 10%, actually improved their lot absolutely and relatively since 2001. In 2001, households in the lowest 10% of disposable income consumed on average 1394 kilo calorie day, whereas households in the upper 10% consumed an average of 3541 kcal/day, or 2.5 times more. In 2011, households in the lowest 10% of disposable resources consumed on average 1916 kcal/day, whereas households in the upper 10% consumed an average of 3184 kcal/day, or 1.6 times more (Potrebleniye produktov Citation2003, 54; Potrebleniye produktov Citation2012, 25).
14. Starting in 2013, Russian families will be paid between R5,000 ($160) and R11,000 ($360) per month after the birth of a third child (and any additional children). The allowance will be paid until the child reaches the age of three (RIA Novosti, 14 January 2013).
15. Academics at the All-Russian Institute of Agrarian Problems in Moscow classify household operations into different categories based upon production indicators and annual earnings. One category is households that do not produce any agricultural output, estimated at about 7% of private plot operations, in which often either the land and/or house has been abandoned In another 5% the owner lives in the house but does not cultivate land or have any farm animals. Among the four categories of household plots that are used to produce agricultural products, the bulk are recreational and contribute less than 1% of disposable household income. In 16% of household plots, agricultural activity produces less than 10% of disposable income. In 19% of household plots, agricultural activity contributes up to 50% of disposable income. In only 0.2% of household plots, agricultural activity produces more than 50% of disposable income (Uzun and Saraykin Citation2012, 41–48).
16. The new restrictive environment continued in the regions. In early 2012 the regional legislature in Krasnodar kray adopted a rule that allowed a maximum of three pigs for subsidiary household operations (Krest’yanskiye vedomosti, Nos. 3–4, 2012, 12). Households were given until 1 March 2012 to comply with the new restriction. The reason was supposedly to slow the spread of the African swine flu virus, but a desire to raise tax revenue cannot be dismissed.
17. The program for rural social development has been implemented in stages. The first stage ran 2003–2005, the second 2006–1010, and the third 2011–2013. The third stage envisions the expenditure of R83.2 billion, of which R24.5 billion is federal funding, R35.3 is regional funding, and R23.4 is non-state funding. Once the third stage is ended, many of the same development goals appear in another government program entitled “The Development of Stable Rural Communities during 2014–2017 and to the period 2020.” At this writing, the program has been published in draft form only, appearing in the larger program for agricultural development that runs 2013–2020, which was adopted in July 2012 (Gosudarstvennaya Citation2012, 104–09).
18. Food costs as a percentage of the consumer basket varies – 36.5% for the entire population, 34.6% for working adults, and 40.9% for pensioners in 2011 (Sotsial’no-ekonomicheskiye indicatory Citation2012, 11).
19. These numbers represent a slight uptick from 2010, when the poverty rate was 12.6%, encompassing 17.9 million people (Sotsial’no-ekonomicheskiye indicatory Citation2012, 13).
20. In 2011 the national average monthly monetary income was R20,754, with significant variation across federal districts (Rossiyskiy statisticheskiy ezhegodnik Citation2012, 171).
21. Land abandoned by agricultural enterprises comprises a second category that affects national food security because farms have less land in use. Enterprises may abandon land because of a shortage of workers to cultivate the land. Ioffe and Nefedova argue that there is a relationship between rural depopulation and land abandonment (Ioffe, Nefedova, and De Beurs Citation2012). One should note, however, that land abandonment was preceded by years of low productivity, and so land abandonment may be seen as a rational response to market forces and a corrective response to Soviet policies that attempted to force agricultural production in geographically inappropriate areas. In that sense, land abandonment has a positive aspect.
22. The prohibition on foreigners owning agricultural land in Russia is easily circumvented by a foreign investor or company establishing a Russian subsidiary, which by Russian law is then considered a Russian company (Visser, Mamonova, and Spoor Citation2012, 901).