კონფერენცია

∘ Joseph Archvadze ∘
MODERN PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY IN GEORGIA

Summary

National food security refers to the ability of a country or region to ensure reliable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food for its population to maintain a healthy and active life. This is a key component of national security, economic development and public health.

The food problem is generally both physiological and socio-economic. In addition, food security also has a political aspect. - This is the country's potential to produce and access food products in such quantities that it does not make the state overly dependent on other countries, without turning the food supply process into an instrument of political influence (embargo, supply constraints, price manipulation, etc.) by the latter.

At the macroeconomic level, it is necessary to have a level of food security in the country that meets at least four main conditions:

a) ensuring the country has the necessary and sufficient quantity of food and basic food products to meet the physiological needs of the population;

b) the existence of transitional (permanent) stocks at the level of at least 15-20 percent of annual consumption (for cereals - at the level of 17 percent). This criterion is based on the guaranteed provision of uninterrupted supply of relevant products to the population in the event of possible problems in the supply chains;

c) a high level (at least 60-80 percent) of ensuring consumption of basic food products from domestic production and

d) minimizing dependence on imports.

The population must have sufficient resources to be able to satisfy its needs at a rational level. For example, to ensure a rational consumption rate, if we were to try to satisfy the population's needs for meat and meat products exclusively through imports compared to the current level, we would need to import an additional approximately 0.5 billion USD, which would require an increase in the price of the current food basket of the population by at least 15 percent.

And across the country, the additional demand of the Georgian population to increase the annual per capita consumption of meat from the current 51 to 65 kilograms can be estimated at approximately 1.2 billion GEL - an amount equivalent to the annual gross income of approximately 63 thousand households in the country.

The strategic direction of ensuring food security should be a significant increase in grain production in the country.

The process of ensuring food security should cover both the production and circulation and sales sectors, in which a combination of protectionist and fiscal measures will provide a cumulative positive effect in terms of protecting the interests of both local producers and consumers.

Measures to ensure the country's food security are a multifaceted, complex process. Its main directions are: agricultural development, creation of strategic food reserves,

effective trade and market policy, social safety nets and implementation of nutrition programs, as well as ensuring environmental sustainability.

By implementing the above measures, not only the issue of the country's food security will be resolved, but also the most important task, which is the other side of the aforementioned security medal - a substantive solution to the problem of poverty. The essential solution to the problem of food insecurity and poverty itself is related to an even larger social task - the functioning of a just and democratic society.

Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University Paata Gugushvili Institute of Economics International Scientific C O N F E R E N C E S "ECONOMY – XXI CENTURY"

E ISSN 2587 - 4691	∘ Joseph Archvadze ∘ MODERN PROBLEMS OF NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY IN GEORGIA Summary National food security refers to the ability of a country or region to ensure reliable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food for its population to maintain a healthy and active life. This is a key component of national security, economic development and public health. The food problem is generally both physiological and socio-economic. In addition, food security also has a political aspect. - This is the country's potential to produce and access food products in such quantities that it does not make the state overly dependent on other countries, without turning the food supply process into an instrument of political influence (embargo, supply constraints, price manipulation, etc.) by the latter. At the macroeconomic level, it is necessary to have a level of food security in the country that meets at least four main conditions: a) ensuring the country has the necessary and sufficient quantity of food and basic food products to meet the physiological needs of the population; b) the existence of transitional (permanent) stocks at the level of at least 15-20 percent of annual consumption (for cereals - at the level of 17 percent). This criterion is based on the guaranteed provision of uninterrupted supply of relevant products to the population in the event of possible problems in the supply chains; c) a high level (at least 60-80 percent) of ensuring consumption of basic food products from domestic production and d) minimizing dependence on imports. The population must have sufficient resources to be able to satisfy its needs at a rational level. For example, to ensure a rational consumption rate, if we were to try to satisfy the population's needs for meat and meat products exclusively through imports compared to the current level, we would need to import an additional approximately 0.5 billion USD, which would require an increase in the price of the current food basket of the population by at least 15 percent. And across the country, the additional demand of the Georgian population to increase the annual per capita consumption of meat from the current 51 to 65 kilograms can be estimated at approximately 1.2 billion GEL - an amount equivalent to the annual gross income of approximately 63 thousand households in the country. The strategic direction of ensuring food security should be a significant increase in grain production in the country. The process of ensuring food security should cover both the production and circulation and sales sectors, in which a combination of protectionist and fiscal measures will provide a cumulative positive effect in terms of protecting the interests of both local producers and consumers. Measures to ensure the country's food security are a multifaceted, complex process. Its main directions are: agricultural development, creation of strategic food reserves, effective trade and market policy, social safety nets and implementation of nutrition programs, as well as ensuring environmental sustainability. By implementing the above measures, not only the issue of the country's food security will be resolved, but also the most important task, which is the other side of the aforementioned security medal - a substantive solution to the problem of poverty. The essential solution to the problem of food insecurity and poverty itself is related to an even larger social task - the functioning of a just and democratic society.