Can self-sufficiency policy improve food security? An inter-temporal assessment of the wheat value-chain in Uzbekistan

ABSTRACT

There is a controversial debate about what is the best public policy a government should adopt to achieve an affordable and stable supply of staple food for its citizens so to ensure food security. This paper contributes to the debate on the socio-economic impacts of food self-sufficiency policy (SSP) in three ways. First, it thoroughly outlines the costs and advantages of self-sufficiency policy presented in the literature. It argues that self-sufficiency policies are not neutral but have to be assessed for their distributional impacts across the different actors and over time, and in their context-specificity. Second, using the case of wheat self-sufficiency policy in Uzbekistan, it unpacks its effects on the different economic actors and institutions. Third, it reflects on the relevance of wheat self-sufficiency policy for food security in a context of dynamic economic development.

KEYWORDS:

• Commodity value chain
• self-sufficiency policy
• food security
• wheat
• Central Asia

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to two anonymous referees for their valuable and constructive comments on previous versions of the manuscript. The authors wish to thank the participants of a workshop ‘Political economy approaches to food regimes’ held on 19 January 2018 at SOAS, University of London, the UK, and a workshop ‘Political economy of agricultural policy in state-managed economies’ held on 24–25 November 2016 in IAMO, Halle (Saale), Germany, for helpful comments to the earlier versions of this paper.

Disclosure statement

The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Notes

1. Islam Karimov addresses international conference in Tashkent. Ministry of Foreign Affairs https://mfa.uz/en/press/news/2014/06/1954/.

Islam Karimov addresses international conference in Tashkent. Ministry of Foreign Affairs https://mfa.uz/en/press/news/2014/06/1954/.

2. What flour mills hope for: In geopolitical competition, Kazakhstan flour mills are losing to their Uzbek counterparts. Published in Russian in https://inbusiness.kz/ru/news/na-chto-nadeyutsya-mukomoly (12 July 2019).

What flour mills hope for: In geopolitical competition, Kazakhstan flour mills are losing to their Uzbek counterparts. Published in Russian in https://inbusiness.kz/ru/news/na-chto-nadeyutsya-mukomoly (12 July 2019).

3. Mills of Kazakhstan transfer business to Uzbekistan. Published in Russian in https://forbes.kz/finances/markets/mukomolyi_kazahstan_perenosyat_biznes_v_uzbekistan/(7 September 2019).

Mills of Kazakhstan transfer business to Uzbekistan. Published in Russian in https://forbes.kz/finances/markets/mukomolyi_kazahstan_perenosyat_biznes_v_uzbekistan/(7 September 2019).

4. Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers #866 “On measures for the implementation of market mechanisms in delivery system of grain, flour and bread” from 14 October 2019.

Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers #866 “On measures for the implementation of market mechanisms in delivery system of grain, flour and bread” from 14 October 2019.

5. State regulation of prices for flour has been ceased. Why did the government take this step? Published in Russian in https://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2019/10/15/flour-liberalization/(15 October 2019).

State regulation of prices for flour has been ceased. Why did the government take this step? Published in Russian in https://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2019/10/15/flour-liberalization/(15 October 2019).

6. Since October, the state will start grain interventions to curb prices. Published in Russian in https://kun.uz/ru/news/2020/01/29/s-oktyabrya-gosudarstvo-pristupit-k-zernovym-intervensiyam-dlya-sderjivaniya-tsen.

Since October, the state will start grain interventions to curb prices. Published in Russian in https://kun.uz/ru/news/2020/01/29/s-oktyabrya-gosudarstvo-pristupit-k-zernovym-intervensiyam-dlya-sderjivaniya-tsen.

7. Producers of bread loaf from domestic flour will be exempted from VAT. Published in Russian in https://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2019/10/01/bread/(1 October 2019).

Producers of bread loaf from domestic flour will be exempted from VAT. Published in Russian in https://www.gazeta.uz/ru/2019/10/01/bread/(1 October 2019).