The food security as a priority area of russian policy

Introduction

The problem of food security is one of the most important in the modern world economy. It affects the interests of various groups of countries, social and political forces, becoming more relevant as the international division of labor deepens, the development of world trade in agricultural products and food, and the processes of globalization accelerate. Therefore, it is necessary to make greater use of domestic and foreign experience in this field (Aseev, 2013; Aseev, 2015). At the same time, the issue of food security remains one of the most important issues in ensuring national security. Without a solution to the problem of food security, it is difficult to solve other acute social and economic problems.

Increasing attention to the food problem in Russia is connected not only with the need for life, but also with the global climate and social changes that are taking place in the world. Malthus ' warning is being implemented about the negative impact on consumption of excessive population growth, which begins to coincide with limited water resources, increased environmental impact on yields, and other economic problems associated with large TNCs that regulate production to maintain high prices, including for food.

The sanctions imposed against Russia, which resulted from the annexation of Crimea to Russia following the results of the referendum and sharply aggravated contradictions with foreign countries, led to an urgent need to quickly resolve issues affecting food security.

A high level of imports can cause the most adverse consequences for the entire economy of the country. The output of imports for some industry beyond the 30 % level leads to the termination of the cumulative effect in it and in the associated industries, which leads to an imbalance of the entire mechanism of economic balance and development (Nazarenko, 2007).

Ensuring food security is an extremely complex and multi-level problem, whose complex solution requires the concentration of efforts of specialists in various fields of science, technology, state and municipal authorities, as well as enterprises and law enforcement agencies. Food security is an integral part of national security, preserve its statehood and sovereignty, the most important component of the demographic policy, life support systems, essential for the health, physical activity, longevity and quality of life of the population.

In modern conditions, food security is one of the foundations of socio-economic development, an important element of the economic and national security of the state (Shkvarya et al, 2017). The system of ensuring food security creates conditions and forms mechanisms for countering economic threats, developing reproduction processes in agriculture as a production base, and increasing the level of self-sufficiency of Russian regions with food. This is due to the fact that food security has now become global.

Materials and methods

When we talk about domestic scientific research, we focus on specialized research on food security issues. First of all, we would like to note the research of Shagaida N. I., Uzun V. Ya. "Food security in Russia: monitoring, trends and threats", Ageev N. A. "Food security in Russia: state, prospects and conditions of provision", Sobolev N. S. "Food security as a socio-economic factor of ensuring the health of Russians", Strokov T. A. "State policy of the Russian Federation in the field of food security", Romanyuk M. A., Raevskaya E. A. "Main problems of ensuring food security of the Russian Federation in the conditions of import substitution and differentiation of the population by income". We think that proceedings of foreign researchers is a very interesting for our work: Amani Е. Elobeid, Flaten О., D. John Shaw, Hülse Joseph H., Robert L. Tompson, Stanley R. Johnson, W. McLeod Rivera, Willard W. Cochrane.

The standard approaches to food security assessment in Russia is based on the assessment of the volume of production, consumption and food sovereignty. However, this is contrary to the generally accepted global approach, when food security is providing physical and economic access to safe food for the full life of every citizen.
About 30% of Russians spend more than half of their earnings on products. 28% of our compatriots spend more than half of their income on food. A little less money goes to 21% of Russians - from 40 to 50%. Almost one in five (19%) - this item of expenditure is 30 - 40%. 14% of respondents spend about a quarter of their total income on food (20% - 30%), and only 7% - from 10% to 20%.

According to the results of the portal survey Rabota.ru in November 2018, when asked whether it was necessary to save on products, the vast majority of respondents (91%) answered in the affirmative, and only 9% - in the negative (Survey: almost a third of Russians spend more than half of their income on products: [electronic resource]: https://tass.ru/obschestvo/5806792 (accessed 13.04.2019).

Based on quantitative indicators, import substitution has shown a positive trend. The levels of food independence set by the food security Doctrine are not achieved only for milk. The integral indicator of import dependence, including exports, fell from 11.1% in 2013 to 4.5% in 2017. the Share of imported food products in inventories decreased from 36% (2013) to 22% in the third quarter of 2018. However, import substitution occurred against the background of an increase in the share of population expenditure on food in final consumption expenditures: in rural families from 41.8 to 43.3%, in urban families from 31.3 to 34.4%. And in the poorest families, this figure rose to 53.3%. The share of families with more than 50% of their consumer spending increased from 20.8% to 23.4%. (Food security is expensive for the population, 05.12.2018.).

According to the Organization for economic cooperation and development (OECD), which is provided in the monitoring of RANEPA specialists, the Russian population in 2014-2016 overpaid an average of 10% compared to prices on the world market. The biggest overpayment was in 2016, when buying food, Russians overpaid about 14% compared to imported counterparts. To increase economic access to food, it is necessary to ease the food embargo for cheap products and continue to modernize industries with direct subsidies that can potentially provide a competitive price with imported products after modernization. Otherwise, the artificial reduction of competition in the form of market restrictions will preserve the conditions for non-competitiveness of certain types of Russian products (beef, milk, pork, closed-ground tomatoes) (Report "Food security in Russia: monitoring, trends and threats". - Ranhigs .- [electronic resource]: https://www.ranepa.ru/repository/news-onir/uchenye-ranhigs-podgotovili-doklad-o-prodovolstvennoj-bezopasnosti-rf (accessed 13.04.2019).

Discussion

The concept of "food security" should be clarified. The term "foodsecurity" is ambiguous. It refers to both food security and food security. The second version of the translation most accurately shows the meaning of the term. The term " food insecurity "appeared in national documents in Russian because of an unsuccessful translation of the classical concept, which is better defined as" food insecurity", given that this term leads us to indicators of food shortages.

The term "food security" is broader than the term "food security" implies.  In view of the fact that security characterizes only the availability of food for people, and security also includes the ability to reproduce food.

In the most common form, as defined by the UN, which oversees agriculture and food supply - "Food and Agricultural Organization" - food security is perceived as a state of society, as a result of which all people have constant access to nutritious and safe food to maintain their active healthy life. And it follows that the term "food security" is included in the generally accepted concept of "security" (Shadzhe et al., 2016).

Official documents define food security of the Russian Federation as the state of the country's economy, which ensures food independence of the Russian Federation, guarantees physical and economic accessibility for each citizen of the country of food products that meet the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation on technical regulation, in volumes not less than the rational norms of food consumption necessary for an active and healthy lifestyle.

Results

Food security of the Russian Federation is one of the main directions of ensuring the national security of the country in the medium term, a factor in preserving its statehood and sovereignty, an important component of demographic policy, a necessary condition for the implementation of the strategic national priority-improving the quality of life of Russian citizens by guaranteeing high standards of life support.

In accordance with the provisions of the national security Strategy of the Russian Federation, the national interests of the state in the long term are, inter alia, to increase the competitiveness of the national economy, to turn the Russian Federation into a world power, whose activities are aimed at maintaining strategic stability and mutually beneficial partnerships in a multipolar world (National security strategy of the Russian Federation. Approved by presidential decree No. 683 of December 31, 2015).

The strategic goal of food security is to provide the country's population with safe agricultural products, fish and other products from aquatic bioresources, and food. The guarantee of its achievement is the stability of domestic production, as well as the availability of necessary reserves and reserves.

The main tasks of ensuring food security regardless of changes in external and internal conditions are:

• Timely forecasting, detection and prevention of internal and external threats to food security, minimizing their negative consequences due to the constant readiness of the system for providing citizens with food products, the formation of strategic food stocks;
• Sustainable development of domestic production of food and raw materials, sufficient to ensure the country's food independence;
• Achieving and maintaining physical and economic accessibility for every citizen of the country of safe food products in volumes and assortment that meet the established rational standards of food consumption necessary for an active and healthy lifestyle;
• Ensuring food safety.

To analyze the state of food security, it is necessary to define definitions that reflect its essence and structure.

Food independence of the Russian Federation - sustainable domestic production of food products in volumes not less than the established threshold values of its specific weight in the commodity resources of the domestic market of the corresponding products.

The food security criterion is a quantitative or qualitative threshold value of a feature that is used to assess the degree of food security.

Rational norms of food consumption - a diet presented as a set of products that includes food in volumes and ratios that meet modern scientific principles of optimal nutrition, taking into account the established structure and traditions of nutrition of the majority of the population.

Economic availability of food - the ability to purchase food at current prices in volumes and assortment that are not less than the established rational consumption standards, provided by the appropriate level of income of the population.

Physical availability of food - the level of development of commodity distribution infrastructure, in which in all localities of the country it is possible for the population to purchase food products or organize food in volumes and assortment that are not less than the established rational norms of food consumption.

Balance of food resources – a system of indicators that characterize the sources of formation of resources of the main types of food and channels for their use. The balance sheet reflects the movement of products from the moment of production to the moment of final use, allows you to perform current analysis, assess import needs, and determine the funds for food consumption. Balances are compiled by statistical agencies for a calendar year in physical terms for basic food products. Balances compiled by product type (with the exception of grain) contain data on both raw products and processed products when converted to the main product type. The information base for compiling balance sheets is data from Federal statistical observation forms, annual specialized accounting forms for agricultural organizations, sample household surveys, one-time accounting and censuses, and customs statistics.

The Fund for consumption of basic food products by the population is determined by excluding from all the resources of products that part of it that was not used in the reporting period for food:

• production consumption (seeds, feed, consumption for non-food purposes, etc.)
• losses at all stages from production to sales;
• export and export of products outside the region;
• inventory changes at the beginning and end of the period.

Based on the requirements of food independence, the main sources of food products are the products of agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, as well as the food industry. Agriculture, fisheries and the food industry play a crucial role in ensuring food security.

International practice of ensuring food security justifies its sufficient level for citizens of any country in the amount of 80% or more of the food consumed by them, which should be produced by the country's own agricultural sector, which ultimately raises the necessary level of the quality of life of the population and, accordingly, its reproduction. It is estimated that in order to feed the world's population, which is expected to exceed 10 billion in 2050, agricultural production will need to increase by 65 per cent by that time. At the same time, measures should be taken to ensure that all people have access – physically, socially and economically – to sufficient quantities of safe and nutritious food.

Attention should be paid to the global food security country index, developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit with financial support from Du Pont, which has been compiled since 2012. The index rating is a scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is complete security.

Table 1.
The world food security index for 2016.

The index measures the policies of States and the effectiveness of their institutions in the field of food security. The study presents an analysis of three main groups of indicators of food security in the world: the level of availability and consumption of food; the availability and sufficiency of food; the level of quality and safety of food. These categories include 28 different indicators that are measured over a two-year period.

In Russia, the level of food security is currently estimated at 73-79% (food imports 31-39%). At the same time, the share of imports in large Metropolitan areas of the country reaches about 48-58%. (Fudina, 2015) Ensuring food security is a priority area of state policy, as it covers a fairly wide range of national, economic, social, demographic and environmental factors. In the sphere of food security, the problems of economic and agro-industrial reforms, real trends in the development of agricultural and food production, the domestic market, the degree of its dependence on the world food market, the social status and solvency of consumers in various regions of Russia are combined. Of all the problems affecting the Russian economy, the most significant and burdensome was the decline in agricultural production and the deterioration of the structure and quality of nutrition of the population.

To solve the problem of choosing state regulation measures to ensure food security in Russia, the basic macroeconomic model of the agro-industrial complex (AIC), adapted for this problem, developed at the all-Russian Institute of agrarian problems and Informatics named after A. A. Nikonov (viapi state University) (Shutkov A., Shutkov, S., 2008), can be used.

The following subtasks must be solved sequentially:

• based on the model of population demand for food, determine the ratio of income and prices sufficient to ensure that the population has access to food at medically reasonable standards in the conditions of market equilibrium prices;
• based on models of the unit operation of agriculture to determine the cost of production of main crop products, livestock and processing and the minimum allowable sales price for the profitable operation of agricultural industries;
• based on the model of food imports of the bloc foreign trade system to determine the system of customs tariffs and quotas in order to ensure, on the one hand, the rational level of agricultural protection, and, on the other, a sufficient competitiveness of imported products:
• deepen territorial and sectoral division of labour in agriculture, actively develop integration processes in agro-industrial production and specialized area for production of separate types of agricultural products, to stimulate cooperation (Alekseev, Filatov, 2011);
• create the necessary legislative, organizational, economic and administrative conditions that exclude criminalization in the system of production and sale of agricultural products, raw materials and food;
• ensure the effectiveness of state regulation;
• economic processes related to the production, sale and use of agricultural products, raw materials and food that can guarantee the normal functioning of the domestic agro-industrial complex and the domestic agro-food market, both in favorable and extreme economic conditions (Alekseev, 2007).

In the context of the policy of sanctions, special attention should be paid to the analysis of external and internal threats to Russia's food security, primarily dependence on imports and linking to the international agri-food market. First of all, we are talking about problems related to Russia's membership in the WTO.

Russia's accession to the WTO, which was preceded by a sharp discussion, caused a critical assessment among representatives of the agro-industrial complex, who predicted large losses due to the great difficulties for certain regions of the country with a poorly diversified economy and low productivity in agriculture, the closure of inefficient farms and food processing enterprises, the growth of unemployment and other social problems. Russia found itself in an unequal position, as the Russian leadership assumed obligations, focusing not on meeting the needs of citizens, but on compliance with the rules and norms established in the West. Indicators of the level and forms of support for agricultural production, conditions for access of foreign goods to the domestic market, export subsidies, etc. (Belousov, 2012).

A negative consequence for food security was the opening of the domestic food market to foreign competitors due to a reduction in the level of its tariff protection from 13-14% to 10.8%.

Negative processes in the domestic market of agricultural machinery, affecting both its producers and consumers, have become a threat to the Russian agricultural complex. The WTO rules have limited the system of protection of the domestic market from imports of foreign agricultural machinery, removing customs, tariff and technical barriers to its promotion in Russia, and sharply reducing import duties. As a result, Russian agricultural producers switched to cheaper foreign equipment, which led to the loss of positions of Russian machine-building enterprises.

Another threat to the Russian agricultural complex is the negative processes in the domestic market of agricultural machinery (Aseev, 2015). This applies to both its producers and consumers. The WTO rules have restricted the system of protection of the domestic market from imports of foreign agricultural machinery, removing customs, tariff and technical barriers to its promotion in Russia, and sharply reducing import duties. As a result, Russian agricultural producers switched to cheaper foreign equipment, which led to the loss of positions of Russian machine-building enterprises.

The threat to the Russian agricultural complex is the dependence on imports of seed material. Russia's total demand for seeds reaches 10 million tons per year. According to specialists of the North-West research Institute of Economics and agricultural organization (NWNIESH), in Russia as a whole in 2013, the share of imported seeds in crops reached more than 96% for sugar beets, 66% for vegetables, 62% for potatoes, more than 60% for winter rape, almost 46% for sunflowers, and 43% for corn (Model, Romanyuk, 2015). In 2015, the total cost of sown seeds in Russia was 226.6 billion rubles. and imported seeds were purchased for 42 billion rubles (Kochelyagin, 2015). The sowing campaign in 2016 also revealed a high dependence of domestic agriculture on imported seed material, which is observed in almost all areas of agricultural production.

The dominant position of varieties of domestic selection is occupied only in crops of cereals and legumes. The risk group in which foreign selection tends to expand includes sugar beets, corn, sunflowers, vegetables and malting barley. The share of imports of their seeds is 30% or more.

Russia's dependence on imports of animals and poultry is threatening, leading to a sharp reduction in the national genetic resources of animals, which is fraught with destabilization of the industry if the economic situation changes and a critical situation develops, as well as hinders the development of its own domestic breeding base and qualified personnel. Of course, in some market segments, the share of foreign products will always remain significant. First of all, this applies to items that Russia does not produce or makes in small volumes due to natural and climatic factors for one reason or another.

According to the expert and analytical center of agribusiness, the trend of Russian imports of food and agricultural raw materials in billions of dollars is as follows (About exports of agricultural raw materials and food from Russia in 2001-2018):

Table 2.
Dynamics of Russian imports of food and agricultural raw materials in billions of dollars is as follows (in 2001-2018)

Source: On the export of agricultural raw materials and food from Russia in 2001-2018. [electronic resource] https://agrovesti.net/lib/industries/ob-eksporte-selkhozsyrya-i-prodovolstviya-iz-rossii-v-2001-2018-gg.html (accessed 11.04.19).

As a result of the imposition of sanctions on a number of food products, imports decreased. The state's focus on import substitution, especially after the introduction of an embargo on imported food from a number of countries, is yielding positive results.

For example, thanks to active state support, the pig and poultry industry has filled the market with domestic products to the maximum, so gradually the need for imports has disappeared, and its volumes have decreased to minimum values.

Table 3.
Top 10 most imported goods (millions of dollars)

Despite the constant expansion of the list of sanctions against Russia and the introduction of retaliatory sanctions, there has been a recent increase in exports of Russian agricultural products. This is the dynamics of exports in billion rubles (Yuzhaninova, 2019):

Table 4.
Dynamics of Russian exports in billions of rubles

However, against the background of rapidly growing export volumes, its structure remains almost unchanged (Schkvarya et al, 2017). In this industry, the main share of exports is raw materials. At the same time, the opportunity to increase exports in monetary terms due to deeper processing of raw materials in Russia is unlikely to be used. This requires investment in the coming years.

It is assumed that state support for the Russian agro-industrial complex in 2019 will exceed 300 billion rubles. The cost of the updated state program for the development of agriculture in 2022-2025 is planned to be 1.714 trillion rubles, including 1.496 trillion rubles of budget allocations from the Federal budget.

The national project "Export of agricultural products" assumes that the supply of agricultural products from the Russian Federation will grow to $45 billion in 2024 from $23 billion in 2018. Exports of cereals and legumes may increase to $11.4 billion from $7.6 billion, fat and oil products - to $8.6 billion from $3.6 billion, food and processing products - to $8.6 billion from $3.5.

Exports of food and agricultural raw materials from Russia in 2017 increased by 21.1% compared to the previous year and amounted to $20.7 billion. A third of food exports came from grain and products of the flour and cereals industry. 75% of exports of foodstuffs in value terms ($15.9 billion) were to foreign countries. The largest buyers of Russian agricultural products last year were Egypt ($1.78 billion), Turkey ($1.78 billion), China ($1.77 billion) and South Korea ($1.46 billion) (Vesti. Economics, 2019). However, the problem of import substitution has created a number of problems. On the one hand, scientists pay tribute to domestic farmers who, after the introduction of the ban on food imports from the EU and other countries in 2014, increased production, but from the position of the consumer, it is not so clear. Russian experts believe that the goals and criteria in the 2010 food security doctrine were not fully adequate. They do not take into account the availability of food for the entire population of the country (Shadzhe et al, 2016). Food security is not only about ensuring high rates of agricultural development, but also ensuring physical and economic access to safe food for all citizens of the country, regardless of income.

To protect your agricultural producer, you need to use direct payments for the period of modernization of industries whose products can be competitive in the domestic and foreign markets and expand the range of agricultural producers who receive support. This fully meets the requirements of the WTO, as a result of the lifting of the embargo, the consumer will receive a cheaper product, and the manufacturer will receive support in order to produce cheap products in a competitive environment. Bans on food imports and the creation of advantages for individual companies do not encourage the reduction of agricultural production costs by both producers and the state, and, ultimately, in the name of domestic consumers.

The problem of genetically modified products occupies a special place in the food security system. There are two approaches to the global solution of the food problem:

the first is to ensure that food is available to countries in need through the widespread distribution of high-yielding transgenic varieties;

the second is to meet the growing demand in developed countries for environmentally friendly products. The use of genetically modified seeds in crops does not guarantee the safety of consumers, since the consequences of human consumption of such products have not been fully studied.

Genetically modified foods taste as good as natural foods, and sometimes even better. They are increasingly found in vegetable oil, margarine, sweets, mayonnaise, and confectionery. But the manufacturer should only indicate this when their share exceeds 0.9% of the total weight of the product.

Who is right and who is not – it is impossible to say unequivocally? The arguments made by proponents and opponents of GM products are very significant, but they are of a different nature. Companies that are monopolists of corn, soy, rice and cotton seeds are primarily interested in expanding the cultivation of transgenic varieties obtained by genetic engineering methods. For the first time, transgenic products were developed by the American company Monsanto in the late 80's. Since then, more than 100 lines of genetically modified plants have been approved for production in the world.

Scientists in many countries have declared the dangers of genetic engineering. In 2000, a Worldwide statement of scientists on the dangers of genetic engineering was published, followed by an open letter to governments of all countries regarding GMOs, which was signed by 828 scientists from 84 countries.

In Russia, the Federal law of July 3, 2016 N 358-FZ "on amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation in terms of improving state regulation in the field of genetic engineering"is in force. This law tightened the use of GM plants and animals for food production in Russia. Now the use of GMOs is only possible for scientific purposes. Russia cannot completely abandon GMOs due to WTO rules, so it was decided to ban the cultivation of GM plants and breeding of animals, but leave the possibility to import food with GMOs. At the same time, the developers of the law initially did not even talk about the harm of GMOs to humans, but about the impact on the environment - the possibility of cross-pollination between cultivated and wild plants and the transfer of new genes to the wild.

The state, having banned the production of GM food in Russia, stipulated in the law that "the Government of the Russian Federation has the right to prohibit the import into the territory of the Russian Federation of genetically engineered modified organisms intended for release into the environment, and (or) products obtained with the use of such organisms or containing such organisms» . However, this will be done only after studying the impact of such products on humans and nature. Therefore, it turns out that it is technically possible to import food with GMOs to Russia.

Many European countries prohibit the cultivation and sale of GM products, but most often it only applies to individual crops. For example, some varieties of GM corn are banned in France. There is a complete ban in New Zealand, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Japan. In the United States, the cultivation of GM plants and breeding of GM animals is almost ubiquitous except for a few counties in the state of California.

Conclusions

The doctrine of food security defines that "taking into account the risks and threats to food security, the state economic policy in the sphere of its provision, of which the state agricultural and Maritime policy is an integral part, should be implemented in the following main directions (Aseev, 2013).

Improvement of economic availability of foodstuffs to all groups of the population have to pay special attention to the implementation of measures aimed at reducing poverty, ensuring priority support for the most needy segments of the population that do not have sufficient funds for the organization of healthy nutrition, and to organize healthy nutrition for pregnant and lactating women, infants, preschool and school-age healthy eating in social institutions (hereinafter – social power).

In terms of physical accessibility of food products, we will need to develop interregional integration in the field of food markets and food supply, make more effective use of support mechanisms for regions that are in areas of insufficient food production or are in extreme situations, increase the transport accessibility of remote regions for guaranteed and relatively uniform food supply to their population, create conditions for increasing the number of trade infrastructure and public catering facilities of various types.

Acknowledges

The authors of the study Express their gratitude to the Director of the Institute of public administration and law of the State University of management, doctor of Economics, Professor G. R. Latfullin for supporting the publication of this article.